Black Mirror
by Mallobaude
Summary: Welcome to the nightmare in my head. Say hello to something scary. The monster in your bed. Just give in and you won't be sorry. Welcome to my other side. Hello, it's Ms. Bleiss. Cover art by ThyBlake.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** You asked for it, so here it is.

Welcome to the first chapter of an all new, standalone Bleiss story. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the story The Legacy of Bleiss: A Discord Anthology, I'll give a short little summary here.

Bleiss began as a joke on a Discord server I'm on because of some artwork which featured a color inverted Weiss. Black hair and red eyes as opposed to white and blue. Soon enough we came up with a backstory and personality for this "black Weiss", or Bleiss, and gave her the opposite personality of Weiss. Where Weiss is refined and graceful, Bleiss is crude and lewd. Where Weiss showed no interest in Jaune, Bleiss wants him more than anything else in the world.

Pretty much every Bleiss scenario is based on lewd humor. Of her aggressively pursuing Jaune. And that will most certainly happen here in this story. However, I'm going to attempt to actually take a serious approach with it as well, instead of purely sex jokes and lewd situations. I hope I'm able to achieve this. And I hope you enjoy the start of this new story.

* * *

A pair of pale blue eyes stared down at the floor. An outstretched hand pressed up against the door of her locker was the only thing supporting her right now.

She had lost. She had lost _again_.

It didn't matter that this time had not been a life or death situation. It didn't matter that this had only been practice. It had been for show. For one of them, it had been for fun.

Weiss hadn't had fun.

Normally sparring in Miss Goodwitch's class was not something that too many students took seriously. Students usually didn't try their hardest. They weren't trying to hurt one another. They were merely honing their skills for a time when they would be out in the field facing the creatures of Grimm, or worse. Weiss had once wondered why they spent so much time practicing facing human opponents. Then she and the rest of her team had gone to Mountain Glenn.

Images and memories flashed in her mind. They caused chills to run down her body.

"You okay, Weiss?" the other person in the room asked.

Weiss looked over to see Yang Xiao Long, her latest adversary. The girl who had just defeated her. Rather soundly too. Weiss was skilled in swordsmanship, and her glyphs gave her an edge over most opponents who did not know what to expect from her and her abilities. Yang, however, knew all her tricks. They trained together. They practiced team strategies together. Yang was almost like a second older sister to her. Of course she knew all the abilities Weiss had up her sleeves.

"I'm fine," the heiress lied.

"You sure? You've just kinda been standing there for a while." A slight frown formed on the blonde's lips. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Only her pride.

"No, I'm fine." Physically. "I'm just... thinking." About their match.

Yang was an immensely powerful combatant. What she lacked in the grace and finesse that Weiss possessed she more than made up for in sheer strength. Both in body and willpower. Yang could get knocked down a hundred times and she would get back up each time stronger. It wasn't just because of her unique Semblance either. Her will was like a flame that could never be extinguished. And every time one tried to snuff that fire out, it only burned brighter.

She wasn't sure if her teammate truly accepted her answer, but Yang nodded nonetheless. "Okay. But you might wanna hurry up and get changed. Miss Goodwitch might say something if _I'm_ the one who comes back first."

Weiss only now noticed that Yang had changed back into her Beacon Academy uniform. Weiss on the other hand still wore her white-blue combat skirt and jacket she had donned for their spar.

"Yes," she agreed. "You go ahead. I'll be done shortly."

The blonde nodded again. "Alright. See ya."

Yang walked past and went through the double doors of the locker room. Weiss was alone now with just her thoughts. Her stupid thoughts filled with defeat. Inadequacy. Fear.

She punched her locker hard enough to leave a dent.

It wasn't just that she had lost. Losing to Yang of all people was nothing to be ashamed of. However, it was not the first loss in recent memory. Her mind once more drifted back to Mountain Glenn. She remembered her team's failure to prevent a speeding and explosive-laden train from crashing into the city of Vale. Her failure to prevent a tide of Grimm from swarming into the city. Her failure to defeat the man who had tried to kill her.

Weiss Schnee should be dead right now. She would have been if not for sheer luck. Of being thrown into the train car where Blake stood victorious over an unconscious Roman Torchwick.

Tears stung in her eyes as her fist slammed into the locker again and again.

She would be dead if Blake hadn't been there. The White Fang officer had toyed with her. He had taken every blow that had come his way, and had remained standing. Then he struck back. His sheer strength had overwhelmed her. In the end Weiss had been helpless. He could have carried through with his intent to finally kill a Schnee.

Weiss had to get stronger. The Vytal Tournament was quickly approaching. It would be only a matter of weeks until she competed live in front of an international audience. In front of her father. In front of Winter.

She could not fail. She could not be so easily embarrassed on such a stage.

Opening up the bent metal door of her locker, Weiss rummaged around her belongings until she found a small metal box. It was something she did not keep in her team's dorm out of fear of somebody finding it. Of somebody abusing it. It was her responsibility. Her burden. Her mistake.

Entering the correct number combination onto the box's lock, it opened up to reveal a padded interior that held a single small vial of liquid. The next generation of Schnee Dust Company product lay inside. That is, if it passed the rigorous tests that it would need to go through before it hit the open market.

The highly concentrated dust elixir was a cocktail of ingredients that was meant to increase one's physical performance. It would boost stamina. Strengthen Aura. Even heighten one's aggression if the preliminary tests were to be believed. Just what a warrior needed. Just what she needed.

The dust was unproven, and normally there was no way she would be allowed to take a sample, must less test it out herself. However, she was running out of options. She had stolen it from the Schnee labs just prior to coming to Beacon. It had been a contingency plan. In case she hadn't been strong enough to make it on her own. In case she needed a little performance enhancement. The idea of failing and having to return to her father was an unthinkable one.

She needed to win the tournament. She needed to get stronger. If this was the way to achieve her dreams, then so be it.

Weiss popped the top off of the vial and poured the black liquid down her throat.

* * *

Ruby groaned softly, her arms and legs stretching out beneath her covers. She could have sworn she had just been dreaming about her best friend and partners cursing up a storm. Weiss, however, would never swear in her life. She was far too proper and dignified for any profanity to ever leave her mouth. If anyone would ever be caught saying such words, it would be Yang. Or maybe Ren. That boy was far too tranquil and quiet, and she refused to believe it was genuine.

"This is crap." Ruby's heart skipped a beat as she heard the words being uttered. "This is crap." A sigh filled the air. " _This_ is crap."

Was that... was that Weiss? Was her dream coming true after all?

Ruby's mind immediately went to the dream where she was rolling around and laughing atop a mountain of cookies. Why couldn't that one have come true?

Still, before she could get too engrossed in her fantasies, she had to know just what was going on below her. Sitting up on her perch of the top bunk of their makeshift bunk beds, Ruby looked down to see just what Weiss was doing.

And what she saw shocked her.

Clad in nothing but a white towel wrapped around her head, Weiss stood completely nude in the center of the room as she sorted through all of her clothes. Every inch of her pale and silky-smooth skin was on display seemingly without a care in the world. A pile of clothing had built up on the floor around her. Nothing about this situation was right. Nothing was normal. There were so many things wrong here that Ruby did not even know where to begin.

Ruby had seen all of her teammates in various states of undress. It came with sharing a dorm. And with all of them being girls, there was no problem with it. While they were all comfortable in one another's presence, none of them ever strutted around completely nude like this. Least of all Weiss. Not even Yang was this brazen with her body, and Ruby knew how much her sister loved to flaunt her perfect figure.

Then there was the swearing. Ruby had never heard a foul word slip through the heiress lips in her life. So why was she of all people suddenly calling all of her clothing such a thing while carelessly tossing them to the floor?

Only one way to find out. "Weiss?" Ruby asked, her concern struggling to overcome the drowsiness in her voice.

The other girl didn't bother looking at her when she spoke. "Yes, Ruby?"

"What, uh... what's going on?"

Another sigh slipped through her partner's lips. "I'm _trying_ to find something decent to wear today. But apparently all I ever thought about buying were these shitty white and blue skirts."

Ruby saw how her partner looked utterly disgusted by the contents of her wardrobe. Hands pressed down on her hips as she looked down at the pile of clothing with disdain.

"Well, um, it _is_ a school day," Ruby reminded her. "So we need to wear our uniforms anyway."

"Ew. Fuck that."

Ruby blinked. What? Just... _what_?

Another scornful sigh left Weiss' lips as she picked up one of the last outfits she had not cast aside. "I suppose this will have to do... at least it has some black on it."

The outfit in question was her white double-breasted jacket with a matching skirt. The black she spoke of was the piping and buttons which decorated it. She hadn't worn the attire since the pair had visited the CCT Tower a couple weeks earlier.

The girl held up the outfit in front of her with outstretched arms. Almost like she was examining it for the first time. Like he was trying to imagine how she might look in it.

Before Ruby could say another word about how they needed to wear their uniform to class, another voice broke the silence. "Put some damn clothes on already, Weiss."

A look over across the room showed that Yang had woken up, and was looking down upon the heiress much like Ruby was. But where Ruby did not express her concern for the girl's lack of dress, Yang had no such reservations.

Weiss scoffed before tossing her chosen outfit onto her mattress. "What's wrong? Never seen a pair of tits before, funbags?"

Ruby's eyes widened. What was going on? This wasn't normal. This was so beyond normal that she wondered if something was actually wrong with her partner.

Her sister on the other hand apparently did not share her concerns. Yang merely laughed. "Of course _I_ have," she said happily. A smirk spread across her lips, and she motioned down to Weiss with a nod of her head. "Have _you_?"

It was no secret that Yang was the most well-endowed member of the team. It was also no secret that Weiss was the least. Normally such topics of conversation never came up. No one among them cared about such things. However, now that Weiss actually had broached such a topic, and in such an aggressive way, Yang had no problem returning the favor.

The expression on Weiss' face darkened at the verbal jab. "Oh go suck a dick, Xiao Long."

Ruby gasped. Yang on the other hand laughed some more. "Okay, is this a prank? I mean I'm not complaining or anything, but I gotta know. Did you lose a bet or something, Weiss?"

If this was some sort of prank, then Weiss was absolutely committing to it one hundred percent. That wouldn't have been unusual for her partner. Weiss Schnee did not do half measures.

However, this did not seem like a prank. This was too real to be such a thing. "Weiss, are you feeling okay?" Ruby asked, voicing her concerns.

Weiss finally looked up at her. "I feel peachy-fucking-keen, Ruby. How are you?"

Her eyes were red. Why were her eyes red?

Ruby forgot what she was about to say next. There was something terrifying about those eyes of her partner. "Uh, well, I-"

"Wait," Weiss said, putting her hand up in a stopping motion toward the girl. "I seem to have stopped caring."

The redhead was at a loss for words. Had they gone back in time? Was this the Weiss she had met on the first day of Beacon? The mean, easily-annoyed girl who had lectured her about the dangers of dust? The one who insulted her and treated her like a child?

No. Not even _that_ Weiss had been so crude and vulgar. This was like a totally different person. One look into those crimson eyes of hers told her as much. Were they contact lenses? Did she have some radical and mutated strain of pink eye? Was it some kind of Grimm infection?

Weiss removed the towel from her head, and a cascade of black silky hair fell down around her shoulders. It was still damp from the shower that the girl must have only recently taken. That certainly explained the nudity. But it did not explain the color of her hair. Or her eyes.

...She had turned black and red. Maybe it was indeed some kind of Grimm infestation. A Geist maybe?

No. That was just crazy talk. There must have been a perfectly rational explanation for this.

"Whoa!" she suddenly heard her sister cry out. "Weiss, what happened to your hair?"

Weiss didn't look up as she began to finally slip on her undergarments. "What _about_ my hair?"

Yang pointed down at her, as if she needed to explain what was wrong with the situation at hand. "It's uh... it's black."

"Yeah? So what?"

"So what? What do you mean so what? Your hair's supposed to be white, and Blake's is supposed to be black. You're ruining the whole team dynamic."

Weiss scoffed dismissively. "Like I give a fuck."

This was a grave cause of concern for the leader of Team RWBY. Something was very wrong. Her best friend and partner should not have just woken up one day to look and act totally different from her usual self. Why wasn't Yang seeing that as well?

"Whatever you say, Bleiss," Yang said jokingly.

Weiss paused from slipping on her skirt to look up at Yang. "Bleiss?"

"Yup. Black Weiss." She pointed to the girl again. "Since you've got yourself a new hair style, might as well give you a new name until you decide to change back."

Ruby frowned. Now was not the time for her sister to be making puns. Not that _any_ time was a good time for Yang to utter her awful puns. But especially not now.

"Bleiss..." the girl repeated, as if testing out how the word felt leaving her mouth.

"Oh, you like that? Alright, Bleiss. I'll just keep calling you that until you get over whatever weird phase you're going through."

"Uh huh."

A phase. Ruby really hoped it was just that. She did not want to have to put down her best friend because she was slowly being infected with some sort of Grimm virus.

She shook her head. No. That was stupid. Of course that wasn't happening. That wasn't logical. Ruby had never heard of a case of someone being infected by the Grimm like some sort of zombie apocalypse movie. And Geist Grimm were only known to possess inanimate objects. Not people. There would be no cause for having to mercy kill Weiss. That was just silly.

"So Weiss... you're sure you're okay then?" Ruby asked once more.

A frustrated sigh tore through the air as she finished buttoning up her white jacket. "Oh my gods, Ruby. I'm fine. I'm fucking fine. Okay?"

"Hey, chill out," Yang said in her sister's defense. "She's just concerned because you're acting so weird."

Okay, so it wasn't just her who thought so. Yang definitely noticed it as well. She just did not appear to be as concerned about it.

"Yeah well I didn't ask for your damn concern," Weiss said defensively. After binding her hair in its usual sideways ponytail she moved over toward the door. "I'm hungry, so I'm getting something to eat. Don't bother following if you're gonna be such annoying bitches, okay?"

Without waiting for a response, Weiss opened the door and walked out. She did not forget to slam it back shut after she had passed through.

"Wow, what crawled up her ass this morning?" Yang wondered aloud.

Ruby initially wanted to say a Geist had, but she ultimately decided against it. "I dunno. But she seemed off to you, right?"

Yang let out a soft chuckle. "Of course she did."

The redhead frowned. "But you don't sound too worried about it."

"Hey, if she's decided to cut loose and drop the whole little miss prim and proper act, then I'm all for it. I mean for all we know she could be a total freak underneath all that classy high society rich girl stuff."

That... seemed like a stretch. A rather large one at that. "I don't know..."

"Besides, she's seventeen! This is the age to experiment and go wild. Let her have her fun. If she wants to dye her hair black and get piercings and all that stuff, I say we let her. She was probably suffocated back in Atlas. This is the first time she's ever been free."

She had a point. While Ruby did not know all the details about her partner's background, she came from wealth and fame. She had appearances to maintain. She had duties beyond those of just being a huntress at Beacon Academy.

Weiss had a family reputation to uphold. She was the heiress to the largest and most influential company in Remnant. That had to wreak utter havoc on the girl's mind. Maybe this was just her way of finally getting to be free. A way to finally live life on her own terms.

"Maybe she finally snapped," a third voice said.

Or... there was that.

Ruby didn't know how long Blake had been listening to the conversation. She didn't know if the faunus girl had heard everything Weiss had said. However...

Maybe the pressures of her family and professional life had finally caught up with the girl. Maybe Weiss had indeed snapped.

"Well, we'll keep an eye on her," Yang said. Ruby could agree with that. "But if this is all just a little teenage rebellion, I don't think there's any harm in that."

Ruby could agree to that as well. Teenage rebellion was what her team was all about. The docks. The highway incident. Mountain Glenn. She and her friends weren't exactly known for following the rules. Why shouldn't Weiss get an opportunity to let loose a little?

"Oh gods!" Yang continued. "Blake, hurry up and hide all your porn before she finds it!"

The other black-haired girl growled softly. "It's not porn. They're tasteful and mature adult novels."

"Tomato, tomahto," Yang said dismissively. "Either way, if Weiss is about to break free of all her chains, please don't let her discover sex."

* * *

Bitches and hoes. That's what she was surrounded by.

What the fuck was wrong with those cunts? Why were they asking if she was okay so much? Did they not realize that repeatedly asking a person if they were okay just pissed them off? That it made them not okay? That they themselves were the ones causing the problem?

Then there was the issue about her hair. Why were they making such a big deal about it? Were they all brain dead or something? Her hair had always been black. Blake's hair was black too, but no one seemed to make a fuss about that. Or the gratuitous amounts of porn she kept in their room under the guise of "art".

Weiss would have been perfectly content to sort through her disgusting selection of clothes for something to wear this morning. But no, they just had to go and ruin things by being annoying. With less than an hour before classes began she had to first go get something to eat. Hopefully none of her teammates would follow.

Later on she would need to make a trip out to Vale in order to purchase some new clothes. If there was one thing her cuckold of a father was good for, it was ensuring that her monthly allowance was always full. Being a lien sack was his only redeeming quality as a human being. And with that lien she would be able to dress in style. To add a good amount of black to her plain looking wardrobe. Something to match her beautiful black hair.

 _Bleiss..._

Still, she rather liked the sound of one of Yang's stupid puns. She supposed there was a first time for everything.

Whatever. They could just keep being stupid in the dorm room.

Strutting through the halls of Beacon's dormitory, she was a familiar face coming toward her. Of all the professors at this school, Professor Port had to be the worst. Glynda Goodwitch was a bitch. There was no denying that. But at least she had skill as a huntress. Doctor Oobleck was some sort of weirdo coffee addict, but he knew his stuff. His presence on the mission to Mountain Glenn had proven that.

But Port? What the fuck did Port do? All that rotund man did was stand around in the classes in which he taught, stroking his own ego about exploits which probably never happened in the first place. His classes were a struggle to get through. A struggle not to sleep though.

Oh fuck, his eyes just made contact with her own. He had better not talk to her. She was not in the mood. She was also hungry. Weiss decided to just look straight ahead and hope he did not-

"Haha! Miss Schnee!" Port greeted. "Good morning to you. Quite the different look you have for yourself today."

Oh for fuck's sake.

"Yeah?" Weiss asked. "What about it?"

"I must say, it is quite a clash of color." Weiss could feel those little beady eyes of his look her over. Her nose scrunched up in disgust. "The contrast of black and white is a rather nice attention grabber."

His attention is the last person's she wished to grab. Not that he was looking at her in that way to begin with. Annoying old man or not, he had never displayed any kind of creepy old pervert vibes to her. Could this conversation just end already?

"Uh huh," she said disinterestedly. "Look, can I go now?"

The man was seemingly taken aback by the request for some reason. Well, too fucking bad! He was the one who had interrupted her. It wasn't like they were in class or anything. Right now was _her_ time. And if this asshole thought he could prevent her from getting a much-needed breakfast right now, then he had another thing coming.

After a few moments of what looked to be collecting himself from the outburst, Port spoke again. "But of course, Miss Schnee. Do remember, however that you do need to be in your school uniform once class begins." His demeanor suddenly turned jovial. "I'm afraid even your new look isn't good enough to bend the rules!"

Okay. Maybe she was wrong with her impression of the guy. Professor Port seemed eager to get her into a school girl uniform. Maybe he was a creep after all.

Crimson eyes narrowed on the man who was only surprisingly a few inches taller than herself. "What, is that your kink or something?"

Again, the man looked shocked by the words which were just uttered. "Pardon me?"

"Your kink," Weiss explained. "Your fetish. Do you like seeing teenage girls in school girl skirts? Is that why you teach at Beacon? What kind of a fucking perverted freak are you?"

Port's lips began to move, but for the first few seconds nothing came out. Finally he composed himself once more. "M-miss Schnee! Such talk is highly inappropriate! And to a teacher no less!"

Well maybe if he hadn't been such an annoying old bastard in the first place and interrupted her journey to the cafeteria, then none of this would have happened. This man truly had brought it all on himself. Weiss herself was not to blame. This pervy old man was. And his creepy, squinty eyes which apparently wanted to see her in a plaid skirt.

"Yeah, don't care. I'm leaving now."

She pushed past the man, her shoulder grazing against his body intentionally as she did so. It was a show of dominance. Of disrespect. Of utter contempt.

Was it everyone's mission just to piss her off this morning?

She heard him call after her. "You and I are going to have a long talk after class today, Miss Schnee!"

Ew. She had heard of movies with that plot before. They never turned out good for the student. Though they always did manage to get perfect grades as a result...

...Maybe Blake had a few of those movies hidden away somewhere. Maybe with the rest of her porn collection. Weiss wouldn't mind indulging her curiosity with the material so long as it wasn't with Professor Port.

She didn't bother acknowledging him as she left the dorm. Finally out in the free and open air now, she took a deep breath and smiled. It had been suffocating in there. First with her team. Then with her teacher. Now she had nothing to worry about. No one to talk to. No one to pester her.

Until she saw yet another familiar face approaching her.

Arc. Jaune Arc. At first their eyes briefly met, much like they had with Professor Port. However, Jaune quickly looked away afterward. As the two teens neared one another she noticed how his blue eyes would try to sneak little peeks at her, even if only for the briefest of moments. How vexing. Yet again.

This time she was quick to lash out with a preemptive strike. "What!" she said suddenly as they reached one another.

The boy jumped in surprise. He looked away before speaking. "Oh, uh. Hey, Weiss. New look, huh?"

Weiss breathed out a sigh. Great. Here we go again. "Yeah, sure," she said dismissively. Everyone else seemed to be saying that. Why not him too? "What about it?"

He looked to be almost frightened by her aggressive tone. "N-nothing," he said softly. His words only confirmed her suspicion. "Just... just that it looks nice. I like it."

 _Ba-bump._

He had complimented her. Had she heard that right? He hadn't said it looked weird. Or asked if something was wrong. There was no concern in her voice or eyes. He had said... it looks nice.

"What?" she asked.

"It's nice," he repeated. "Different, but nice." He shook his head softly, again breaking eye contact with her. "Sorry, I don't want to come off as a creep anymore. I've learned my lesson. Honest. I'll just go before I embarrass myself even more. See ya."

Jaune walked off, obviously uncomfortable with the conversation. Obviously not wanting to annoy her like everyone else had. Even if he didn't realize it, he was already doing her a bigger favor than everyone else had done so far on this young day.

She turned to regard the retreating boy, and noticed how he did not once look back at her. Crimson eyes followed him intently the entire way until he was out of sight.

This boy... Jaune. He had a past with her. The memories were hazy, but she could not help feel that he had done something kind for her in the past. They had an entire history together, and most of it was bad. Yet there was a lingering feeling in her heart that she could not ignore. There was something important about this boy. Something which had personally affected her only recently. What was it again?

He had said that she looked nice too. None of her teammates had done that.

Weiss' tongue ran across her lips in anticipation. She needed to speak to Jaune again. And soon.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** As you can probably tell, this initial chapter is a setup for events to come. There'll be plenty of juicy stuff in the next chapter. More of the usual Bleiss antics you may already be familiar with.

If you're not familiar with them though, I highly recommend you go and read The Legacy of Bleiss: A Discord Anthology. It's an anthology consisting of some of the best Jaune-centric authors on this website. Each with their own unique take on Bleiss.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you thought of it.


	2. Chapter 2

What a day it had been. At least it was almost over.

Between classes, training and studying, Jaune was exhausted. The life of a huntsman was not an easy one. Especially for one like him. One who had cheated to get into Beacon in the first place. One who had to start from scratch.

He was getting better, however. Nightly training with Pyrrha was helping him become a far more competent warrior. He had even proven himself on the battlefield only a few days ago. When a Grimm attack had breached the defenses of Vale, he and the rest of his team had been present. He had slain an Ursa single-handedly again. It hadn't just been sheer luck the first time in Forever Fall. He was now capable of holding his own against the creatures of Grimm. He was finally on his way to becoming a real hero.

He would need to be. With the upcoming Vytal Tournament, Jaune did not want to be the one holding his team back. Sure, Pyrrha could more than make up for his lack of talent in combat, but he wanted to be able to fight without her having to hold his hand. Without needing to be saved.

That was why he was in the library right now. The rest of his team was off spending their free time presumably doing something fun, but Jaune still needed to play catch up. Any and every opportunity he could take to improve himself had to be seized. Educational texts on combat styles and swordsmanship. Instructional training videos. Anything he could get his hands on would do. The thick, dusty old book in front of him right now had a great section on swordplay, and he wanted to try and memorize as much as he could for his next training session. Maybe he'd even have a new trick or two for the next time he was called to fight in Miss Goodwitch's class.

A sudden voice distracted him from his reading, causing Jaune to look up. "There you are."

The sight of an all too familiar girl filled his view. Clad in a white skirt and jacket, and her brand new black ponytail falling down to the left side of her body, Weiss was making her way over to him.

It was a most unexpected development to say the least. Earlier in the morning, Weiss had seemed utterly furious with him. Not that this was anything new or groundbreaking. After several on and off attempts to flirt with her over the course of their time here at Beacon, it was safe to say that the girl did not exactly have the most positive of views on the boy. For her to have a short fuse with him for even bothering to speak with her was expected. Jaune had taken full responsibility for complimenting her on her new look this morning. All he wanted was for them to forget about the incident and move on.

Apparently Weiss did not. She was probably here to yell at him once more.

With a soft and knowing sigh, Jaune prepared to accept his punishment. "Oh. Hey, Weiss. What's up?"

He hoped against hope that she would not begin to berate him for pestering her so early in the morning. However he knew better than to hope too much. After all, why else would she be here?

"I've been looking for you all day," she said with a coy smile. "Well, looking to find you alone, that is. Don't think that I didn't notice you earlier in class. Or training with Pyrrha."

Alone. Yep, that made sense. If he was with the rest of his team then they would be able to defend him from Weiss' verbal onslaught. And the girl would most certainly not try to insult him with Pyrrha being present. As kind and patient as his partner was, she would not stand idly by and let him be insulted like Weiss would undoubtedly do.

Jaune shut the book he had been reading, knowing that he would not have an opportunity to continue. He would also probably lose all motivation to continue on with it after Weiss' verbal lashing. "Well, here I am. How can I help you?"

When Weiss reached the table she placed her hands upon its surface mere inches away from his. Despite her small stature, she towered over him in his seat. The way she leaned in slightly was a definite, and probably deliberate invasion of his personal space. It was probably meant to intimidate him. Meant to give her a psychological edge for what was about to take place.

A pair of piercing red eyes burned holes into him as she stared down at the boy. It was a look he could only describe as intense. As if she was studying him. Searching for weakness. A predator which had sighted its prey.

Weiss' tongue ran across her lips before she spoke again. "Earlier today you said I looked nice."

There it was. That was her reason for coming here. He knew it. Now it was time to own up to his mistake of a compliment.

So why was she smiling as she said it?

Jaune winced slightly, sucking in air through clenched teeth. "Y-yeah. I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to bother-"

He was silenced when Weiss placed a finger up to his lips. "Shhh," she said softly. "Don't apologize for that, Jaune. You were the first one of these fuckers not to ask if there was something wrong with me."

Wait, had he heard her right? Did Weiss Schnee just swear?

After allowing her finger to linger on his lips for a few seconds, she pulled back before her arms folded themselves around her torso. Her entire body swayed ever so slightly, while her eyes refused to meet his with what looked to be embarrassment. "So... I was just wondering. What else do you think about me?"

This was all wrong. Why wasn't she yelling at him? Why wasn't she calling him a bunch of words that he would need to look up in a dictionary later to know just how badly he had been insulted? But more than anything, why was she willingly asking him what his opinion of her was? She should already know. Jaune had never made it a secret how much he liked her. He had gone as far as to serenade her in front of all her friends. Of course he had ultimately been rejected by her, so why was she so eager to know now?

It was a prank. A joke. Something. It just had to be. "Uh... is this some kind of trick?" he wondered.

Her eyes met his own for a brief second before darting off once more. She shook her head quickly. "No tricks. I want to know. What's your honest opinion of me, Jaune?"

If this was a prank, then she was doing a great job of it. Weiss must have been a wonderful actress. But then again, if it wasn't a prank...

Dare he confess his feelings for her just like he had done in the privacy of his dorm room a few weeks ago? Back when he had asked Ren his advice for how to talk to girls, he had given a veritable laundry list of reasons he was attracted to her. He may not have known her all that well, at least not in the way that her teammates did, but what Jaune did know about her was nothing short of incredible. Her beauty was not confined to just her looks. She was an incredible person inside as well. For all of her attitude problems that came at first glance, there was more to her inside. There was more underneath those icy walls she had built around herself.

Here she was asking for his honest opinion of her. What was the worst thing that could happen by telling her the truth? That's what Pyrrha had told him to do. Be honest with her. No lame pickup lines. No schemes. Just tell her how he feels. The worst thing she could do was reject him. And she had already done that on more than one occasion.

Still, he wanted to be absolutely certain that she was prepared for it all. "You're sure?" he asked nervously.

"I'm very sure," she smiled back to him.

Jaune swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay. Well..." He took a moment to collect his thoughts. He wasn't used to being put on the spot like this. Least of all with Weiss Schnee of all people. "You're one of the most incredible people I know," he started. "I mean, not that I know too much about you since, well, we didn't get off to the best start. But just from what I've seen... you're smart. You're talented. Beautiful. Way too good for a guy like me, so I get why you rejected me and stuff. And then there's..."

Jaune's train of thought was interrupted as he noticed how Weiss was reacting. There was an actual physical reaction to his words. Her cheeks were reddening to a color similar of that to her eyes. Now that he thought about it, since when were her eyes red? They had to be colored contact lenses or something, right?

Her arms hugged tightly around her torso as well, and the girl was practically vibrating on the spot as Jaune was pouring his heart out for her to hear. If it wasn't for the ridiculously goofy smile on her face, he would think that the redness and shaking was out of anger rather than happiness.

"Don't stop," she whispered. "Please. Tell me more."

Jaune could feel his heart pounding inside of his chest. This was the strangest thing he had encountered yet here at Beacon Academy. And he had seen a lot of weird and crazy things.

Regardless, he decided to press on since she insisted. "And, uh..." he began, trying to remember where he had left off. "Your voice. Your voice just sounds musical even when you're not singing. But I have seen videos of you performing online. And you're incredible. Seriously, you could go pro if you decided not to be a huntress."

The look of utter serenity on Weiss' face was something which he had never seen before. She looked happy. Perfect white teeth were on display as she smiled from ear to ear.

"And... um, I know there are probably more things I can say about you, but I just, well, I'm kinda on the spot here." Jaune brought his hands up to his face as he slowly shook his head. "Oh my gods, I can't believe I just said all that to you. Why do you even want to know? Don't I annoy you?"

"Maybe once," she said, and Jaune saw how her hand crept over the surface of the table to move closer to his. "But now... I don't know. Suddenly you don't seem all that bad, mister tall, blonde and fuckable."

If Jaune had been drinking something in that moment, he most certainly would have done a spit take straight from out of a movie. Had Weiss really just said that?

He remembered being referring to as tall, blonde and scraggly on the night before initiation. She had to have used those same words deliberately, right? Well, the same with one significant alteration on the end.

It was his turn to blush, and Jaune looked away as he struggled to stammer out a sentence. "I- um, uh, I mean..."

Moving a little bit closer to him, Weiss brushed her fingers against his hand which lay upon the table. "You look utterly adorable when you're flustered," she cooed. "Has anyone ever told you that before?"

A prank. This had to be a prank. Someone had to have put her up to this. Someone like Yang. She had to have some serious dirt on the heiress in order to get her to pull off an act this convincingly.

Jaune was struggling to think of words as his eyes focused on Weiss' delicate fingers. "Uh... no. I-I don't think so."

"Good," she purred. Those fingers began to slowly dance up the length of his arm. "Then I was your _first_."

His first. The way she had emphasized that word. Did she even realize the implications of it? She had to, if she had just called him tall, blonde and... and... _that_ only seconds earlier.

Wait. According to her, everyone had been asking if she was okay. Did that mean that the others recognized a problem as well? Maybe she was sick. Maybe this behavior was the result of a fever. Maybe something was indeed very wrong with the heiress.

He had to know. At the risk of annoying her like everyone else had, Jaune spoke. "Weiss, are you feeling okay? Do you feel sick?"

Rather than get annoyed, however, she merely smiled down at him. "I'm not sure, Jaune. I do feel very... _hot_ right now. Maybe you could touch my forehead?"

There was hunger in those crimson eyes. Yearning. Weiss had already grabbed hold of one of his hands with her own and lifted it slightly off the table to entice him into action. Jaune supposed there was no harm in actually doing the old feel test.

Placing the back of his hand upon her forehead, she felt normal. No elevated temperature from what he could tell. Then again his own body felt very warm right now. How could it not with the way she was acting? The suggestive words she spoke. The provocative actions she took. Weiss Schnee was for all intents and purposes flirting with him, and he still had no idea if this was some kind of prank or not.

After allowing his fingers to rest upon her soft flesh for a few seconds, he removed them from her, much to Weiss' apparent chagrin. "You... you feel fine to me."

The girl hummed softly. Suggestively. "Yeah, you felt fine to me too."

"What?"

"But... maybe you could take my temperature just to be sure. I'll even let you decide if you want to give it to me orally, or..."

She trailed off, seemingly deliberately. Jaune knew all too well why. There was more than one way to take a person's temperature.

"Weiss... seriously." Jaune's face was a mask of concern now, and despite the whirlwind of feelings and emotions tearing through his body, he knew something was wrong. "What's going on? Please, just tell me and maybe I can help."

His heart was racing in his chest. Fear. Concern. Other feelings he was ashamed to even be entertaining in a moment like this. This went far beyond a simple prank. Weiss would have never agreed to go through something like this. Weiss would have never made such deliberate sexual innuendos. She especially would have never said them to him.

Weiss placed a hand on his chest. Right over his heart. "You're getting flustered again," she said amusedly. Probably. He couldn't see his own face right now, but Jaune could imagine that thinking about such things was turning his cheeks a healthy shade of pink. "Not that I'm complaining, of course. You're so cute when you're panicking." Her smile widened, as did her blood-red eyes. "I love the fact that I can do that to you."

Using her hand already upon him, Weiss shoved his chair back a little bit to make room for next move. The last move he ever would have expected. With that hand on him for balance, Weiss swung one of her legs up and around his waist and settled down upon his lap.

This was bad. This was very bad. Jaune himself was beginning to be affected by the sultry words of the supposed Ice Queen. By her even more provocative actions. That ice had been all but melted now. What remained were hot embers which he feared would burn him any moment now.

"W-weiss..."

Now that she was straddling his lap, Weiss' face was impossibly close to Jaune's own. Her hands linked together around the back of his neck so that he could not move away. "Come now, Jaune. You've known me for months. I don't make you nervous, do I?"

Incredibly so. It wasn't every day that one of the most beautiful girls you had ever seen flirted with you while sitting in your lap. "T-this isn't right. I thought you hated me."

She giggled softly. Melodically. Like a soft and soothing lullaby. "Then I must have been a fool. I finally remembered something though. I remembered what you did for me at the dance. What a kind and selfless boy you were, telling Neptune to talk to me. All to try and make me happy."

He had done that indeed. Back then Jaune had finally realized he stood no chance with the girl. That she had no interest in him romantically. His best option was to just move on. But at the very least, he could try and ensure that Weiss was happy. Sending Neptune her way had been the right thing to do.

So why was it that she was now suddenly interested in him? It was just one of the many questions that he wanted to ask, but could not voice in this moment. He could think of one, however. "Then... what about Neptune?"

"Fuck Neptune," she spat. It was the first bit of disdain she had shown since arriving. Jaune could hardly believe she had uttered the words. "You're the only boy I'm interested in seeing right now. So..." she trailed off, her tongue poking out to lick her lips in the brief moment of silence. "Allow me to make up for my past actions. Let me be the one to make _you_ happy today."

Weiss' head tilted ever so slightly, her eyes gently shutting as she did so. Her lips parted just a fraction of an inch as she brought her face in closer to his.

By the gods. She was going to kiss him. His first kiss. With Weiss Schnee of all people.

How? Why? What? His mind went blank, and all Jaune could do was close his eyes and accept the kiss. With a girl straddling his waist and her arms locked behind his head, he wasn't exactly in a position to refuse. The most primal and selfish parts of his mind and body did not want to refuse either.

That kiss never came. After a few seconds of sitting with his eyes closed, Jaune opened them to see a pair of blue eyes staring widely into his own.

With a head of familiar white hair framing her beautiful face, Weiss screamed.

Jaune screamed back.

* * *

No. No. No no no no no.

What was that? What _was that!_

Weiss wasted no time in rushing through the open courtyard of Beacon Academy back to her the dormitory building. Apparently she had been in the library. She could not remember going there. She could not remember anything, in fact. The last thing she remembered doing was resting her head against her pillow and attempting to fall asleep for the night. Then... then...

The girl shook her head wildly to try and clear the thought from her mind. A thought so disturbing that she could barely give it the attention that it deserved. And it most definitely did deserve attention.

She had been on Jaune's lap. She had been about to kiss him. Why? _Why?_ It made no sense. None of this made sense. Why couldn't she remember?

Sleepwalking. It had to be sleepwalking. She had woken up in the middle of the night, and for some reason gone to the library. Yes. That made sense. What did not make sense was why Jaune was also studying in the library in the middle of the night. Or early in the morning. It was still dark out, after all. Just what time was it?

Unimportant. The sooner she got back to her room the better. Weiss felt like she needed a shower after waking up to find herself in such an intimate position with that boy. A shower, and a good night's sleep. She wasn't sure how much sleep she would be able to get before having to wake up the next morning for classes. She hoped that she would be able to get at least a few hours of rest. Clearly her tired and over-worked brain needed it. Maybe she should just take a sick day. If she was in so bad of shape that she was sleepwalking, then it was completely justifiable. Her flawless attendance record just might need to take a hit.

Taking care to open the door quietly as to not wake up her teammates, Weiss was surprised to see that they were all already awake. Was she in some sort of alternate dimension? Why were they awake? Nothing about this morning made sense so far.

She closed the door behind her without saying a word. Right now she just needed to get as much done in as little time as possible so she could go back to bed. However, the stares of her teammates gave her pause on accomplishing these goals.

"Weiss?" Ruby asked. "What... what happened to your hair?"

Her hair? _Her hair?_ She had just been about to kiss Jaune, and they wanted to talk about her hair?

She shook her head. There was no way they could know about that, and so she would not blame her partner for asking such a question.

Panic suddenly raged through her body. Why had Ruby asked about her hair? Was something wrong with it? If she had managed to make it all the way to the library while sleepwalking, who knows what she might have done to her pristine white hair?

Weiss rushed over to the room's full length mirror, pangs of anxiety in her stomach at the thought of her hair being cut. Much to her relief there did not seem to be anything wrong with it. Bound in its usual ponytail, her gorgeous snow-white hair was as perfect as ever.

"Nothing," she said with a breath of relief. "Nothing at all. Thankfully."

"So... was that just a wig then? And contact lenses too I guess?"

Weiss turned to look at her partner. What was she talking about? "Wig? Contacts? Explain."

She saw how Ruby shared a worried glance with Yang, and shrugged before going on. "Well... uh... this morning I guess you were wearing a wig. Or put temporary dye in your hair. When did you even have time to do all that anyway?"

Blue eyes narrowed on the younger girl, and Weiss softly shook her head. "Ruby, what on earth are you talking about? Why are you all even up this early anyway? I think you all need to go back to sleep and stop this crazy talk."

"Early?" Yang interjected. "Weiss, it's like eight in the evening. What are you even talking about?"

What madness was this? Had everyone lost their mind?

Weiss reached into the pocket of her combat skirt to pull out her scroll. Sure enough, the time read 8:13 PM. That was impossible.

Maybe she had taken a nap earlier in the day? That would be able to explain the sleepwalking. However, it would do nothing to explain why she could not remember waking up this morning. It would not explain why she could not remember attending her classes either.

Something was terribly wrong. She just didn't know what.

"Weiss?" Ruby said once more. There was even more concern in her voice this time. "What's going on."

Weiss wished she could answer, but she could not. "I..."

She shook her head again. How could she tell them what she had just witnessed? How could she tell them what she had been about to do?

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Weiss jumped with surprise and looked over to see that it was Yang standing next to her. The blonde girl retracted her arm quickly upon realizing that she had startled her teammate. "Hey... I don't know what's going on, but please talk to us. Keeping everything bottled up won't do you any good."

Talk? About what exactly? That she had massive gaps in her memory and had apparently felt like riding Jaune like the pony she had always wanted as a child? How could she possibly do that?

Her silence must have been deafening, for it prompted even the most reserved of their number to speak up. "She's right, you know," Blake added. "Trying to do everything by yourself isn't the way to do it. You'll only end up hurting yourself. Maybe even others as well."

Blue eyes squeezed shut. She was right. They were all right. Maybe she should just get it all out of her system. Maybe they could help out somehow. Maybe there was some rational explanation to this, and if they had all the pieces of the puzzle then they would be able to solve it.

Taking a deep breath, Weiss prepared to reveal just what had rattled her so badly earlier. "I... I think I was about to kiss Jaune."

More silence. Not exactly an unexpected reaction either. Considering their history with one another, admitting to anything of that intimate level with Jaune must have been a bombshell to her teammates.

For her part, Blake could only clear her throat softly before looking away. Ruby blinked wide-eyed a few times. And Yang... well, Yang was Yang.

"Oh my gods, really?" she exclaimed. There was an enormous grin on her face which threatened to burst into laughter. "This is the best rebellious phase ever! I always shipped you and vomit boy together."

Rebellious phase? What was she talking about?

"Yang, maybe now's not the time for that," Ruby chimed in. "I mean, maybe we shouldn't be so happy about it if it's bugging her."

"No, Ruby, it's okay," Weiss said with a hand wave. Her focus returned to Yang. "What do you mean by rebellious phase?"

The smile vanished from Yang's face. "Uh, the hair?" she said pointing to her own golden locks. "The eyes? The new attitude?" She shrugged nonchalantly. "But I guess you got over your emo phase pretty quickly. Maybe you should give Blake a few pointers to speed hers up."

A dirty scowl was all that this comment earned Yang, courtesy of her own partner.

Weiss frowned. "I don't know what you mean."

"What are you talking about? Don't you remember this morning? I knew I should have taken a picture of you with your new look."

She shook her head, all the while refusing to meet any of their eyes. "No," she whispered. "I... I don't remember anything from today." Weiss felt her face grow warm and her heart rate spike as she admitted this. "I don't remember waking up. I don't remember attending class. I don't remember how I got to the library. I don't remember why I was inches away from kissing Jaune."

Her knees felt weak. She felt as though she was about to collapse. There was very real fear coursing through her body. Her friends must have realized this as well, and in moments both Yang and Ruby were at her side helping to hold her up. They led her over to her own bed where she sat down, flanked by the two sisters.

"You don't remember?" Yang asked.

Weiss merely nodded a confirmation.

"Do you... did you maybe eat something weird? Do you have any weird allergies? Anything that could give some kind of reaction?"

She shook her head. Again it was silent.

"I, um..." Yang started, but there was clear hesitation in her voice. "I almost don't want to ask this. But... do you know of any health issues you might have? Anything that might cause memory loss?"

Again, Weiss shook her head. "Sleepwalking was my first guess. But I couldn't do that for a whole day, could I?"

"Probably not," Blake confirmed. Weiss knew Blake was an intelligent girl. Hearing her opinion on the matter only strengthened her own belief. "And I hate to ask this too, but I think it needs to be asked. Have you ever done any kind of drugs?"

Drugs? Out of the question. She was Weiss Schnee. Not only was polluting her body with that kind of filth beneath her, but drugs would also take away one of the things she valued most in her life. Control. Weiss could not imagine being under the influence of any kind of foreign substance and losing control of herself. Drugs were an absolutely unacceptable vice for a girl like her. She had far too much respect for herself to ever do something like that.

"No. Never. I would never do drugs. Only something prescribed by a licensed physician."

Blake smiled softly, giving a slight nod. She trusted Weiss' word on the matter.

"Well, we'll get to the bottom of this," Ruby said from her spot to the right of her. She gave the heiress' arm a gentle squeeze of comfort. "You're my best friend and my partner, and I won't stop until we find out what happened. And we'll all keep an eye on you and make sure nothing else happens. Right, girls?"

"Right," Yang agreed.

"Mmhmm," Blake confirmed.

Weiss felt a little bit calmer now. She wasn't in this alone. Her teammates were right. They were right to ask her to trust them on this. Four people working together would undoubtedly yield better results than one.

"Thank you," she whispered. Weiss felt a warmth inside of her that could only come with the love of those closest to you. For most people that was their family. For herself, Team RWBY was that family. With the exception of Winter, the rest of her blood relatives were beneath her Beacon family.

Then, like a bolt of lightning ripping through her heart, Weiss remembered something.

She had not done drugs, but she had consumed something else. She had done so only the night before.

"The dust..." she whispered suddenly.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Wow. Judging from the reaction the first chapter got, I guess people really liked it. I can't thank you enough for such a warm showing of support. Especially over such an unconventional idea like Bleiss.

Hopefully after this chapter it's been made a little bit more clear what kind of story this is going to be. And how it differs from most of the traditional Bleiss stories. But then again, hopefully you've also seen a little preview of how it will be very much the same as those traditional Bleiss stories as well.

Speaking of Bleiss, there's even more of her now on this website if you want it. If you haven't already, go check out a brand new story by **Abel Sephaos** called **Lied der Schwarzen Schwäne**. It too is going to be a full standalone story. I highly recommend it if you're a fan of the Blackguard Movement.

As always, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Weiss felt like she was going to be sick. It was not as a result of the dust elixir. At least not in the way one might imagine.

Casting a glance over in Jaune's direction, she could not help but feel apprehensive with what she was about to do. What she had to do. She had to talk to him. She had to attempt to explain herself. She had to do something to ease the uneasy tension that was in the air when the two were in the same room.

Yesterday she had found herself in the boy's lap, her lips mere inches away from his. She could not think of any sort of scientific or medical reason for this to have happened. She could not think of a logical reason behind her memory loss. However in her mind, one thing was for sure. It was the dust. It had to be. How and why? She did not know. But the dust was the only explanation.

Her mind was focused completely on the task ahead of her. On what she would say. How she would say it. Would she even be able to look Jaune in the eye? How would he react to it all? The boy did have a massive crush on her, after all. Then again maybe he was over it now. He had after all convinced Neptune to patch things up with her at the dance. What did that mean? What did she mean to him anymore?

All of these thoughts were making it difficult to pay attention in Professor Port's class. Not that this was anything unusual. Normally Weiss would merely stare at the clock, counting down the minutes until the bell rang and she was able to leave. Now, however, she almost did not want the class to end. She did not want to have to confront Jaune on the issue of her odd behavior from the previous day.

Alas, one could not always get what they want.

The bell rang in the middle of one of Professor Port's longwinded stories as usual, signaling the dismissal of the class. "Remember, students," he called after them as they rushed to save themselves from hearing another word from the man. "Your assignment on the anatomy of Beowolves is due this Friday."

Right. Homework. Weiss was actually looking forward to that. It would be something to help take her mind off of whatever had happened to her the prior day.

Her partner obviously did not share the same level of enthusiasm as she did. "Ugh!" Ruby groaned. "I hate that assignment. Why do I gotta know all the parts of a Beowolf if I'm just gonna slice it up anyway?"

"So you can slice it up better?" Yang suggested.

"Oh please. Crescent Rose can cut anything. I don't need to worry about weak points and all that stuff."

Jaune was gathering his things. He was going to leave soon. Weiss bit down on her lower lip. It was now or never.

She felt a tap on her shoulder. "Weiss?"

The heiress shook her head slightly before looking back over to her partner. "Yes, Ruby?"

"Are you gonna move?"

Weiss realized she was standing up in the middle of the row of seats, preventing Ruby and some others from moving past her to the room's exit. Her mind had been too focused on the blonde boy a few seats away to notice.

"My apologies," she said before she began to walk toward the aisle. Her team followed behind her, but as soon as she reached a place where they could all move past her, she turned to face them. "Would you excuse me for a moment?"

Ruby gave her a concerned frown. "What's up?"

It was annoying, but at the same time comforting that her partner was so curious about her wanting to be alone for a time. Weiss decided to look at it from that positive aspect rather than a negative one. "I need to speak to Jaune," she explained. After a brief pause where no one responded to her statement, she clarified it. "Alone."

Yang nodded in understanding. Blake did nothing, but the lack of protest meant that she acknowledged and accepted the idea. Only Ruby vocalized her thoughts. "Are you sure?"

Weiss again chose not to be annoyed by her friend's concern. "Yes, Ruby. I'm sure. I'll only be a minute."

She saw how Ruby looked over her shoulder to where Jaune must still have been. Silver eyes met hers once more and this time she nodded in agreement. "Okay. But we'll be right outside if you need anything."

Weiss wanted to say that she would be fine. She would only be speaking to Jaune. Then again, the last time she had spoken to Jaune alone things had not been fine. Not at all.

"Thank you."

Weiss turned where she saw the boy still thankfully near his seat. He was apparently ready to leave this class as well. He took a step forward, and for the briefest of moments their eyes met. He froze on the spot.

Weiss felt her body go stiff as well. This was obviously as awkward for him as it was for her.

Still, this issue needed to be addressed. They already had their fair share of awkward history. They did not need to add anything more to it.

Weiss took a tentative step forward and forced her eyes to look at his face. "Jaune."

Darker blue eyes met her own for a second before darting away once more. "Yeah?"

"We need to talk." Weiss softly cleared her throat before continuing. "About what happened yesterday."

He nodded. That was good. Everything about this was good. With how uncomfortable the whole thing seemed, there would likely not be any lingering anger or resentment on his part about her telling him it was all just a mistake. If anything he probably wanted to clear the air just as much as she did.

Before she could go on, however, a third voice cut through the uneasiness. "Miss Schnee," the deep voice of Professor Port said as he neared the two teens. "May I have a word with you?"

Weiss looked at the man briefly before focusing back on Jaune. "Of course," she told the teacher. "Jaune, would you please wait for me outside?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Sure."

She returned the gesture. "Thank you."

Jaune set off and after a few seconds was out of the classroom. No one remained now but Professor Port and herself. She wondered just what the man wanted to speak with her about.

Was it the fact that she had not been paying attention in class? Impossible. No one paid attention to Port. Her being singled out for it would be highly unusual. It would be wrong. She supposed there was only one way to find out.

"Is something wrong, professor?"

"Miss Schnee, you failed to show up to our meeting yesterday after class," the rotund man said. "I'm afraid I have no choice but to issue you detention which will be served this Saturday."

Weiss felt as though she had just been slapped. A meeting? She had no recollection of such a thing supposed to take place. And... and detention? Her? She had never gotten in trouble in school a day in her life. Her disciplinary record was flawless. Surely this was some sort of misunderstanding.

She attempted to steady her quivering jaw before speaking. "F-forgive me, Professor Port," she said softly, her eyes unable to hold their gaze with his own. "I'm afraid I must have forgotten about our meeting. Could you perhaps remind me when our conversation might have taken place?"

Professor Port pursed his lips slightly. "Why, it was only just yesterday, Miss Schnee," he explained. "You were wearing that black wig at the time."

Black wig. Ruby had said the same thing yesterday. It all made sense now. This happened during her blackout moment during the previous day. When she had been... sleep walking. Or worse.

Good gods. What had she said to Port that would have prompted him to request a private meeting with him?

"O-of course," she said uneasily. "I don't know what came over me yesterday." And she didn't. She really didn't.

"That kind of behavior is extremely inappropriate," the man continued. He had his hands clasped behind his back now as he began to pace back and forth. "Especially with a teacher. There are rules and regulations in place for a reason, Miss Schnee. If I am being honest, you are the last person I would have ever expected to behave in such a manner."

Weiss felt a chill run through her body. She was horrified now. Morbidly curious about what she might have said... or done with Professor Port. She had caught herself straddling the lap of Jaune yesterday, her lips mere inches away from his. What might she have done with Port? What terrible, horrifying things might she have said to him?

She could only hope that she had not made any kind of lewd or provocative suggestions to the man. If she had, at least it seemed like the old man had the decency to reject her. The thought of doing something with him, or anyone else for the matter when not in control of her own body was terrifying.

"I must not have been feeling like myself," she said. It wasn't a lie. According to her friends she had been acting completely different than usual. "Please accept my sincerest apologies for my behavior. It won't happen again."

The man nodded, and a small but reassuring smile formed on his face. "I trust that it will not, Miss Schnee. If you ever do need to talk, however, please know that Doctor Oobleck's door is always open. As Beacon's licensed therapist he would be more than happy to listen to anything that might be on your mind."

He was suggesting that she actually see a therapist because of her words yesterday? Weiss felt her face growing warmer by the moment as she imagined just what kind of terrible things she must have said.

"I will keep that in mind," she said, offering a weak smile to try and mask her discomfort. Who knows. Maybe she would need to seek professional help to get over this debacle. For now though, she could not take any more embarrassment. Not from Port at least. She still had to speak to Jaune. "Was there anything else you wished to speak to me about, professor?"

"No, Miss Schnee. Our business is concluded here. Just remember to show up on Saturday, and after that this whole situation will be over with."

"Yes. Of course."

The man nodded, effectively dismissing her. "Have a good day."

She returned the nod. "You as well."

Her body was trembling as she turned to walk away. Detention. She actually had detention. For... for doing something unspeakable with Professor Port. Not knowing the details was actually worse than knowing exactly what she had done. However, she could not very well ask her teacher what she had said... or done to him. If she had sat herself on Port's lap and gone to kiss that thick white mustache of his...

Weiss nearly gagged at the very thought of it. She would simply have to repress such a memory for the rest of her life. She was good at that. A lifetime of growing up under the dominion of her father made sure of that.

Her mind was racing as she stepped out of the classroom. She would have forgotten what she had to do next if not for the sound of a familiar voice. "Hey, Weiss."

The girl stopped in her tracks, and looked to see the nervous form of Jaune looking down upon her. Gods, he was tall. Since when did he get so tall? She shook her head to clear the thought. "Jaune," she said evenly.

He looked as uncomfortable as she felt. The tone of her voice must have only added to it, and the blonde boy looked as though he wanted to be anywhere else but here. She couldn't blame him. The feeling was mutual.

"You... you wanted to speak with me?"

She had. Not so much wanted, of course. However the air needed to be cleared. "Yes," she agreed. "Thank you for waiting for me."

"Heh, well, it's not every day that Weiss Schnee asks to talk to you after class," he said. A hand reached up to rub the back of his neck nervously. "So I figured it was probably important."

He was correct. The two of them were hardly on casual speaking terms. With their rocky past, they did not exactly have a lot of good memories to reminisce on. Not until recently, at least. He had told Neptune to talk to her at the dance...

She shook her head again. Now was not the time to be getting caught up in such memories. She had a mission here. She had something to say.

"Jaune. About what happened yesterday..."

The boy cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yeah..."

The tension in the air was palpable. It was obvious to her that he did not want to be in this situation anymore than she did. At least there was that. At least she knew that _he_ knew something had been wrong. And that he had not tried to take advantage of the situation. The knowledge that Jaune had a good heart and a strong conscience was comforting.

"I realize that I must have said and done some things that were extremely out of character for me," she explained. If what Ruby and Yang told her was true, she had used all kinds of colorful language. And she already knew that she had tried to kiss the boy as well. "And for that I apologize. There was something wrong with me yesterday. Without going into details, I believe I must have been suffering from some kind of illness."

She wasn't about to tell him that she had ingested an experimental dust elixir in order to improve her combat prowess. One that had apparently increased her aggression. One that lowered her inhibitions. One that caused memory loss.

Weiss shuddered. She was beginning to sound more and more like her mother after a night alone in the garden.

"Y-yeah," he agreed uneasily. "I figured that was it. Even if you didn't have a fever, something was definitely off about you yesterday."

Weiss nodded firmly. This was going better than expected. At least he was not left with any sort of lingering feelings or expectations. "Right. It is for that reason that I ask you simply forget what happened yesterday. My behavior was a result of some... bad medicine that I took."

Jaune nodded in return. He was apparently very accepting of her excuse. She was thankful for that. "Right. That makes sense."

"Yes. So, please just ignore it. Forget all about it. Nothing happened at all. Okay?"

"Okay." That weak smile of his slipped from his face and a frown took its place. "But... are you okay, Weiss? You're not in any danger, are you?"

She hoped not. She hoped that what had happened was a onetime thing.

The fact that Jaune was concerned for her safety filled her with warm comfort. Neptune had been correct. She did have good friends looking out for her. They existed even outside of her own team.

"No. Do not be concerned about anything like that," she said, offering a weak smile of her own. "Thank you for asking though."

"Yeah. No problem."

Okay. Mission accomplished. She had said what she needed to say. The air with Jaune had been cleared. She could leave now. She could return to her own team and hope that nothing else would happen for the rest of the day.

"If you would excuse me," she said, not giving any sort of reason for needing to be excused. She did not need one either."

"Yeah. Right."

Without saying another word, Weiss walked away, leaving Jaune alone. She hoped that he would not be looking too deeply into anything that had happened. It looked as though he was accepting of her excuse. It did not appear that he would think there was anything more behind her words and actions than there had been. After all, there wasn't anything. She had not been in control yesterday.

The thought was a chilling one. Control. She had come to Beacon Academy for control. Control of her life. Control of her future. She could not lose it now.

Especially not to herself.

* * *

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

As she walked through the halls of Beacon's dorms, Weiss struggled to maintain her composure. What had happened? How had she gotten back to her dorm? Where was Jaune? And why was Ruby freaking out the way she had been?

She pressed a hand up against the wall in order to maintain her balance. It took a few seconds to regroup and collect her thoughts. To ease the burdens that both her mind and her body were suffering from right now. It felt as though she had just woken up from a long nap. But how? The last thing she remembered, she was about to plant her lips on those sweet, tantalizing mouth of Jaune Arc. And now he was just gone. The library was gone. Everything she last remembered was gone.

In her confusion she had sparked more worry from Ruby. The redhead had looked at her wide-eyed, asking about her hair once more. Why did that insufferable little brat care so much about her hair anyway? And why had she been so insistent on her staying in their dorm room until Yang and Blake got back? Did Ruby not realize that she had places to go and people to see? One very specific person in particular.

Ruby had tried to stop her from leaving, but without Crescent Rose she might as well have been a toddler trying to battle a Beowolf. After closing the door behind her, Weiss had applied a liberal dose of ice dust in order to freeze it shut. That would at least buy her some time before her partner was able to follow and spout more of her stupidity. Who did that squeaky little cunt think she was talking to her like that? She was Weiss fucking Schnee. She did what she wanted when she wanted to. She took what she wanted. Who she wanted. Right now there was only one person on her mind.

A look to her scroll told her the time. It told her the date. It made no sense. How had nearly twenty four hours passed? Almost an entire day unaccounted for. The thought scared her. However, she knew one thing that would give her relief. Or rather, one person. A person who gave her warm comfort when she thought about him. A person she trusted. A person who had her best interests in mind. Deep down in her heart she knew he cared for her as much as she cared for him.

She knew exactly where he might be now, too.

Getting up onto the roof of Beacon was a relatively easy task, especially for a warrior with her training and dexterity. The only issue was that she could not do so through her own dorm room. It was currently off limits as far as she was concerned. She had to take a longer route. However, she would get up there nonetheless. She had to see him again. She had to find out what had happened in the library.

Weiss' heart was racing as she climbed up the stairs which led to the roof exit. Jaune would help her. Jaune would know what to do. Only he understood her. Her very own team did not. They still treated her oddly. Ruby had tried to stop her from seeing Jaune. Maybe she even wanted the boy for herself...

No. Over her dead body. No one had a right to Jaune but her.

That bitter feeling in her heart only grew as she reached the top of the stairs. She heard the clang of metal against metal. The grunts of exertion. She knew exactly what was going on up there. And with who. Still, the sounds Jaune was making could not help but make her think of another physical and intimate activity. And right now he was with another girl.

He was with _her_.

The door swung open, and sure enough, Jaune was engaged in a sparring match with Pyrrha Nikos.

Not caring about interrupting their duel, and in fact wanting to get in between the two as soon as possible, Weiss announced her arrival. "Jaune."

The two adversaries disengaged, and both looked over to where Weiss stood. Pyrrha wore a small smile on her face at the sight of her friend. Jaune on the other hand looked concerned. "Weiss?"

Relief surged through her body. Now they would have time to talk about what had happened before. Maybe even pick up where they left off. All she had to do now was get Pyrrha out of the picture.

She walked over to where the pair stood. "Jaune, I'm so happy I found you. We have to talk."

The blonde boy sheathed his sword. If she had it her way, she would soon be unsheathing a certain other sword of his. "Okay... did you forget to say something earlier this afternoon?"

This afternoon? What was he talking about? She shook her head. It didn't matter. "Sure, why not," she smiled, sauntering over to him in those last few steps. She pressed a hand against his breastplate, and inhaled deeply. "Mmmm, you're nice and sweaty," she purred. "You've been working hard tonight. I think you deserve a treat. Maybe you could... work me hard too."

He took a step back from her. "Weiss, is this the medicine thing again?"

There was confusion on her face and in her voice. "Medicine? What are you talking about?"

"Earlier today... um... you told me to forget what happened in the library. You said you acted that way because of the side effects of some medicine."

Impossible. Why would she ever tell him such a thing? She wanted to remember what happened in the library for the rest of her life. She had wanted to create even more memories there, but something had happened. Had she somehow passed out from the excitement she felt at the thought of kissing that beautiful man?

"What happened in the library? Why did you leave me? Is there another girl in your life or something?" Red eyes glared over accusingly at Pyrrha. "Is it _her_?"

The thought of Jaune abandoning her to go spend time with Pyrrha made her heart ache. Surely it couldn't be true.

"What?" he asked. "N-no. You're the one who left me in the library. After your hair changed back..."

Her leave him? That was madness. Pure madness. As if she would ever abandon him in their moment of sweet, blissful passion.

"I see you've gone back to the black hair," Pyrrha chimed in. "I must say, it looks quite nice on you."

"Yeah... your hair _is_ black again..." Jaune agreed.

Weiss sighed. This again? Why did everyone make such a big deal about her hair? It's like they had never seen black hair before. Had they not met Blake fucking Belladonna? Or Ren? Or any of the other numerous people in Beacon who had black hair? Why did they care so much about hers?

She decided to ask as much, turning her attention toward the one deserving of the backlash. Toward the redheaded hussy who was out trying to steal her man. "For fuck's sake, my hair has always been black," she snarled. Pyrrha's eyes widened at the sudden verbal lashing directed at her. "Why do you people insist on making such a fuss about it?"

"Weiss... your hair has never been black."

Red eyes shifted back over to Jaune, who wore a serious expression on his face. "Explain."

"You, um... you having black hair is a new thing. Only for the past two days. Is that a wig or something?"

Her head shook slightly, and Weiss forced an uncomfortable laugh through her lips. "Jaune, you're not making any sense. You're talking crazy." She grabbed hold of his wrist. She squeezed down on it so hard that he winced. "Come on, let's get out of here. Maybe you could explain what's going on." Her eyes flashed back over to Pyrrha. "Away from _her_." She took a step and attempted to tug Jaune along with her, but was stopped in her tracks when he did not budge. She looked back up to him, a look of betrayal in her eyes. "Jaune?

The boy was digging into his pocket, and soon enough had fished out his scroll. "Look, I'll prove it to you."

Confused eyes shot back and forth between he and Pyrrha. Why wasn't he following her? Did he want to spend more time with Pyrrha? Was that it? She felt anger building inside of her. Was that big Mistrali bitch manipulating Jaune? Poisoning his thoughts about her? Trying to monopolize his time under the guise of training? Well, it wouldn't work! Weiss Schnee got what she wanted. And right now she wanted Jaune.

"Come on. Let's just talk somewhere in private, Jaune."

Jaune shook his head as he looked down at his scroll. "Just hold on. I've almost got it."

Her mind went back to the time he had serenaded her, attempting to ask her out to the dance. She still thought of herself as a fool for not accepting the invitation. "But... you can show me your guitar skills again. You can show me your flute too."

"I don't play the flute."

Weiss licked her lips, and stood on the tips of her toes in order to whisper into his ear. "I do."

After coming back down to stand flat on the ground, Jaune looked up from working at his scroll, giving her a wide-eyed look. Weiss slowly and suggestively dragged her tongue across her top lip, and winked.

"I... I um..." he stuttered, purposefully looking back down to his scroll. Focusing on it and it alone as he tried to recover from the service she had just offered him. How utterly adorable of him. "Here, look," he said, holding out his scroll for her to see.

It was a picture. Of Jaune and his team. Of Team RWBY. With one notable exception.

She was there. But she had white hair. She had blue eyes. It was a Weiss Schnee she did not recognize.

What the actual fuck?

She shook her head again. Her heart rate spiked. She could feel her pulse pounding in her head. "Jaune? What the fuck is that? _Who_ the fuck is that?"

"Weiss... that's you."

Her head shook wildly this time. Fear gripped her heart. She didn't look like that. She had never looked like that. "Bullshit."

She squeaked when she felt his grip on her hand tighten. Normally she would have been thrilled by the physical contact. However, the sight of her in that picture was sending her into a panic. Jaune's behavior was only reinforcing it. Everyone was saying that there was something wrong with her. Everyone was saying she wasn't acting normal. That she didn't look normal.

What was normal?

"Weiss, if something's wrong you have to tell us," he told her gently. "We can help. All of us."

As if on cue the staircase door opened, and a fourth person entered the fray. "There you are!"

Weiss looked over to the diminutive form of Ruby as she rushed across the rooftop over to her. "Weiss, what's going on? Did you take more of the dust?"

The dust? The experimental elixir from a few days ago? How many days exactly had it been since she lost that match to Yang? Three, right?

 _Only the past two days..._

No...

Jaune had told her only minutes ago that her hair had only been black for the past two days. People had been treating her unusually for the past two days as well. The memory loss. Unable to explain why she had not kissed Jaune in the library.

"Jaune, there's something wrong with Weiss," Ruby continued. "She's not acting like herself. She told us yesterday that she had taken some weird dust thing to try and get stronger. And ever since then she's been acting like this."

The dust.

What had that dust done to her?

"I... I know," he replied. "I mean I don't know the details, but even I can tell something's off about her. She's not acting like herself."

Who was she?

She looked back up to Jaune. She saw a boy who, for reasons still unexplainable to her, she adored. One that she loved. One that she trusted.

Yet when he looked back at her, all it felt like to her was that he was looking at a stranger.

Is that what she was? A stranger? To him? To her teammates? To even herself?

These people did not see her as Weiss Schnee. At least, not the Weiss Schnee she thought herself to be. Things were starting to make sense now. The pieces were beginning to come together. These people were treating her so unusually because she was not who they thought she was. She wasn't who she thought she was either.

She was not Weiss Schnee. Then who was she?

 _Bleiss..._

Yang's stupid pun for her flashed in her mind.

"Weiss?" Jaune voiced in that concerned tone of his.

The amount of care and concern he had for her was heartwarming.

She looked up to him once more. Arms wrapped around his shoulders, her fingers lacing behind his neck. She pulled his head down gently so that she could whisper into his ear. "Call me Bleiss."

When she pulled back she saw how his lips moved slightly as if he wanted to speak. But words did not come forth.

That was fine. Right now they did not need words. They needed only action. His parted lips all but invited what came next.

Drawing him close again, Bleiss pressed her lips against his and showed him just how mutual their care for one another was.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** A little bit of drama, but it is needed to move the story forward. Things are finally out in the open. With two separate and distinct personalities running around now, who knows what can happen?

As always, my thanks go out to everyone for their support of this story. It truly has been incredible, and I appreciate all of you.

By the way, if you want another very different take on Bleiss, I contributed another chapter to the Bleiss anthology which you can find on the profile of a user named **Aetheling**. Chapter 18, titled "Her Darling".

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

They were on edge. The fact that they were was putting her on edge as well.

Weiss had no idea why she had been summoned to her room by Ruby. Jaune was here as well. For some odd reason, her partner had insisted that both Blake and Yang leave. It was only the three of them, so it could not possibly be some sort of Team RWBY-only business. The fact that it involved Jaune had her worried. She hoped that she had not hurt his feelings with what she had told him yesterday.

She knew that the boy held a torch for her. Or at least once had. However, with his actions at the dance, she wondered if he was over her now. Jaune had told Neptune to talk to her. It was an act of selflessness that had warmed the heiress' icy heart. Not enough to actually reciprocate the boy's feelings of course, but enough so that they could at the very least hold a civil and meaningful conversation. Weiss hoped that all of that progress had not been ruined by telling him not to look too deeply into her actions when she had not felt like herself. She hoped that she had not gotten his hopes up only to dash them once again. That would be a cruelty that no one deserved.

Ruby and Jaune sat on Blake's bed across the room from her. Weiss was on her own bed. No one had said anything since the three of them had gathered in private. Why was the feeling in the air so tense? Why did it feel like those two were walking on eggshells? Why didn't someone just say something?

Weiss decided to take the initiative herself. She was used to being in a position of leadership and influence, despite her lack of such a rank here at Beacon. "You wished to speak with me in private, Ruby?" she started, hoping to get the ball rolling. "And I suppose by private you meant the three of us?" she continued, her hand gesturing to Jaune.

Ruby and Jaune shared a look and nodded. But it was the girl who responded. "Yeah, Weiss. There's something we need to talk about. I didn't want to do it in front of anyone else. Even Yang and Blake."

A chill ran down the girl's body. There was a somber and serious tone to Ruby's voice. This wasn't some sort of ridiculous plot to go after Roman Torchwick some more. This wasn't some inane scheme to bake cookies with a child's plastic toy oven in their dorm room. Something was wrong. Weiss dreaded what it might be, because she had a good idea what it might involve.

"Ruby, I may only be seventeen, but I'm mature beyond my age," Weiss stated. It wasn't meant to come off as a boast. She wasn't trying to flaunt her maturity before the younger girl. As heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, she _was_ mentally and emotionally older than she appeared. She had to be growing up in that family. "Whatever you have to say, please just come out and say it. I can handle it."

The two shared another look. The fact that they were both in on whatever was going on and she was not was frustrating. Weiss hated being kept in the dark. She hated secrets. Secrets, plotting, scheming, those things merely reminded her of her childhood. Of her false friends back in Atlas. Of her family members not named Winter. The last thing she wanted was for her true friends to keep secrets from her.

Nodding to herself this time as if to steel her resolve, Ruby spoke. "Weiss, you don't remember last night. Do you."

It was phrased as a statement rather than a question. Weiss felt her blood run cold. It was just like what had happened with Jaune and Professor Port a few days ago. Something else had happened that she could not remember. She felt her heart rate spike as anxiety quickly gripped her.

"No. I don't."

"You... changed again yesterday," Ruby explained. "Last night."

Weiss closed her eyes. Her fears had been confirmed. She only hoped that she had not made too big a fool of herself this time. Almost kissing Jaune and mouthing off to Professor Port had been bad enough. What if this time she had done something in public that might get back to her father? Seeing his daughter acting like a fool in front of the eyes of the world would cause him to yank her back to Atlas in a heartbeat.

"What did I do?"

Ruby bit down on her lip. She glanced at Jaune once again before speaking. "That's the thing... I don't know if I would exactly call it... you..."

Weiss' eyes narrowed in confusion. "Explain."

"Uh... does the name Bleiss mean anything to you?"

Other than being a ridiculous, and quite honestly stupid variation of her name, it did not. "No. Why do you ask?"

"Well... that's kinda what you called yourself last night. Right before you..."

Ruby had trailed off, her cheeks becoming slightly red in what looked to be embarrassment.

Weiss looked at her expectantly. "Right before I what?" Seconds of silence passed by, and it was clear that she was not going to be able to easily pry an answer from Ruby's mouth. Her gaze turned to Jaune. He must have been here for a reason too. "Jaune, what did I do?"

Jaune reacted much in the same way as Ruby after being put on the spot. To his credit, however, he actually managed to look her in the eye when he answered. "Well... you kissed me."

Weiss closed her eyes as another chill coursed through her body. A flurry of emotions exploded inside of her. Fear. Anger. Disappointment. Worry. Too many more to even be named.

She ran a hand down her face and took a deep breath. "Please tell me it was a peck on the cheek."

After a few moments of silence she opened her eyes again to see Jaune looking away. There was guilt etched onto his face. "No," he answered. "This was... this was the real deal. Lips. Tongue. You were all in."

Hands clenched into fists. She had actually done it this time. She had kissed him. Her first kiss, and she couldn't even remember it. Her rational mind had not even been able to choose which boy would get such an honor. Instead it had been chosen for her.

Choice. Control. Two of the things she valued most in the world had been stripped from her. The emotions inside her were starting to become clearer. Anger. Pure, unbridled anger. Her first kiss had been stolen from her. Stolen by him.

"Why didn't you stop me!" she lashed out.

Jaune's eyes widened. He was obviously taken aback by the sudden outburst. He opened his mouth to say something, but it was Ruby who spoke first. "Weiss, it's not like that," she insisted. "It came out of nowhere. Even I wasn't expecting it."

"You were there too?" she questioned. "You said you were going to look after me."

"I tried!" her partner insisted. "You left and froze the door so I couldn't get out. And it took a few minutes to find you after that."

Weiss shook her head. In the rational part of her mind she knew that she should not be getting angry at those two. It wasn't their fault she was doing these things. That she wasn't in control of her mind or her body. Still, it was easier to lash out at others in a time of turmoil. It was easier to blame others when she had no control over her fate.

"You could have stopped me," she said bitterly. Looking up at Jaune, she saw the sadness and guilt on his face. "You're bigger and stronger than me. You could have stopped me."

Loathe as she was to admit it, what she had just said was the truth. Jaune could have held her away and in place. He had long arms. He was tall. It would have taken a truly heroic effort to push past his superior size in order to kiss him had he attempted to keep her at bay. So why hadn't he?

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I... I wasn't expecting it. I wasn't prepared."

Weiss shook her head. A likely excuse. A part of him was probably thrilled to be kissed by her.

"It wasn't his fault, Weiss," Ruby said in his defense. "Jaune's not like that. He wouldn't do that." She turned to look at her fellow leader. "Right, Jaune?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I know you don't have those kinds of feelings for me, Weiss. The last thing I'd want to do is something like that."

She knew he was telling the truth. They both were. Still... it was easier to be angry than it was to be rational. Vengeance was easier than forgiveness. Right now she was simply not in a forgiving mood. Not after this bombshell had been dropped on her.

"There's more to it than that, Weiss," Ruby continued. "It's about the Bleiss thing."

Bleiss. What an utterly ridiculous name. Why in the world would anyone choose _that_ as a name?

"What does that even mean?" she asked.

"When you weren't... yourself last night. When you had the black hair and red eyes. You said to call you Bleiss."

Why? That didn't even make sense. Why would she ever want to call herself such a name?

"I showed you a picture of yourself," Jaune chimed in. "You didn't take it well. It was like you didn't even recognize yourself. Like you were shocked to see how you normally looked."

As she would have expected, Weiss had no memory of such a conversation taking place. However, the implications of what they were saying were not lost on her.

"We did a little more talking with you last night..." Ruby continued. "The girl we were talking to said that she wasn't Weiss Schnee. She said her name was Bleiss."

Weiss nodded slowly. So, this was what happened when the path to isolation finally reared its ugly head. This was what happened when the muted mirror finally answered her pleas. The loneliness of her childhood had finally caught up with her. Growing up in need of a friend, this was her mind's response. This was a manifestation of her insanity.

It was more than just aggression. It was more than just memory loss. It was an entirely different personality. One independent of her regular self. One which was active and conscious. One that Weiss had no power or control over.

She laughed. It was soft and bitter, and obviously the last reaction the other two teens would have ever expected of her. "So I'm insane then," Weiss said matter-of-factly. "Wonderful."

Ruby jumped to her feet as soon as the words had been uttered. "No! We don't know that. We don't know what's going on. All we know is that it started when you took the dust. It's probably only temporary."

It was a nice theory. One that was in fact too nice and convenient. But when had anything in her life ever been nice or convenient?

"And you don't know that," Weiss frowned. Her voice became softer. Smaller. "You don't know what it was like for me growing up..."

As a child Weiss only had one person in her life who she felt cared for her. Winter. Her beloved older sister had been her rock back in Atlas. The only person she could confide in. The only person she could play with. Everyone else used her for their own ends. Even her own parents were a non-factor. At her tenth birthday party her father had admitted that he had only married her mother for the wealth and influence that came with the Schnee name. After that, the woman had become a drunken recluse. Her father remained a distant, strict, and controlling tyrant.

But Winter could not be there for her all the time. Especially not once she left to attend Atlas Academy. It made sense that her lonely mind would create a friend. A rebellious friend who would live in ways she only wished that she could. Who would act on thoughts and desires that Weiss herself was forced to keep buried deep down inside her.

Ruby marched over and grabbed Weiss' hands in her own. "I don't know, you're right," she agreed somberly. "But we're here for you now. All of us. Even Jaune. And we're going to get through this. We're not going to let anything bad happen to you. You have our word."

Weiss was about to respond when she was pulled into a bone-crushing hug from her partner. It took her by surprise, but soon enough she caught herself returning it. She clung to Ruby for dear life. She was afraid. Terrified by this recent turn of events. But in the arms of her partner and best friend, she felt safe.

"And an Arc never goes back on their word."

Weiss looked up to see Jaune standing now too. He wore the same sad, guilty expression on his face. Weiss herself felt a twinge of guilt inside herself too. She should not have lashed out at him the way she had. This wasn't his fault. She had taken the dust elixir. She had no one to blame but herself.

"Thank you..." she trailed off as she broke from her embrace with Ruby. She wasn't about to do the same with Jaune, but he deserved something. "I'm sorry about before, Jaune. It wasn't fair to treat you like I did. I'm just... a little stressed."

That was an understatement. But regardless, she was relieved when a small smile slipped on his face. "It's okay," he reassured her. "I get it. But you have my word that I'll do whatever I can do to keep you safe when you're not yourself."

Weiss nodded. Despite the bombshells that had been dropped on her today, she somehow felt better. Now at least she knew what was going on. Her friends knew what was going on. And together, they would be able to take control over the situation. Control that Weiss herself was apparently lacking.

* * *

Whew. What an exhausting workout that was.

As much as Jaune loved to train with Pyrrha, there was something about his solo routines that he loved just as much. Pumping iron and seeing the results as the weeks went by was nothing short of inspiring. He had started out as a skinny little noodle-armed boy, but in just a few short months had matured into a far more developed young man. A once undeveloped body was beginning to look like that of a true warrior. After all, what good was technique if you had neither the strength nor the stamina to use it?

After having enjoyed a nice long shower in the locker room, he was finishing up getting dressed. Slipping his hoodie over his head, he looked down at himself. He felt ready to take on the rest of the day. Whether it was even more physical training or academic studying, he would go at it with everything he had. He felt on top of the world. He was brimming with confidence.

At least, he was until his vision was suddenly blocked out by the pair of hands which had enveloped his face.

"Guess who~?" the voice of the mystery person sang.

Confidence shattered immediately. Dread filled every inch of his being.

Jaune swallowed hard, hoping against hope that his answer would be the correct one. "Weiss?"

The hands covering his eyes retreated, and soon enough he saw the small form of Weiss skipping around to stand in front of him. Only it wasn't Weiss. At least that wasn't what the girl called herself these days.

Bleiss' head tilted sideways, a wide grin on her face. "Close," she said happily. Her hands were clasped behind her back innocently as she looked up at the boy. "But no. I'm so, _so_ much better than her."

How had she even found him? When had she... changed? The last he saw of Weiss was earlier in the day in class. Thankfully this other personality of hers had not shown up in class. The girl's attitude and behavior could land Weiss in some serious trouble. Even more than she had already apparently gotten into with Professor Port.

She had also changed clothes. In lieu of her usual white and blue dress, the girl had opted for a short black mini skirt and a red tank top. The usual white Schnee Dust Company logo was emblazoned on the front of it just below her... surprisingly ample cleavage. Jaune wasn't one who liked to stare, but he had never seen Weiss so brazen with her assets before.

He had to stop and correct himself. This wasn't Weiss. She would never be so bold. This was Bleiss.

Apparently he had stared too long, as the girl called him out on it. "Like what you see, Jaune?"

He shook his head softly and averted his gaze to her crimson eyes. "Where did you even get all that? Especially the jacket?"

A high-collared leather jacket completed the girl's new ensemble. Bleiss looked down at it and shrugged. "Company credit card, of course," she smiled. "Dad may not be good for much, but he's a great little pay pig. Oink oink, fucking cuck."

Jaune had absolutely no idea what that meant, but it was clear that Bleiss had no love for her father. Was that true of Weiss as well? Was that the opposite opinion of the white-haired girl? Or was she merely better at hiding her disdain for the man?

Taking an unconscious step back, Jaune rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "So... what can I do for you?"

As if she was a predator with her prey in sight, Bleiss took a step forward. "Well first thing you can do is rephrase your question a little bit."

Jaune was confused, but that was nothing new when dealing with Bleiss. "What?"

She took another step forward. "Simple, silly. I'll show you." She placed a hand on his chest, and in turn forced him to take yet another step back until his back hit the locker. "So... can I do you?"

There was no doubt in his mind that Bleiss meant that to be more than just a joke. Red eyes burned with a hunger and passion the likes of which he had never seen in Weiss' own blue eyes. And for some reason it was directed at him.

His heart was pounding inside his chest. The implications of what she wanted to do to him... with him... were incredible. All a teenage boy could ever ask for. The girl he had a crush on since his first day at Beacon Academy was finally reciprocating. He was in the clear to have a relationship with her. To do more than that. So much more. There was only one problem. One horrible, game-changing problem.

It wasn't Weiss. Not the real one, at least.

He could never do such a thing with her. Not when this was Weiss' body. It may have been a different "person". A different mind. A set of memories that would never crossover to the real girl. But that didn't matter. It was still Weiss in there. Deep down, somewhere, there was an innocent girl who had no control over the words and actions of the person before him.

And he would never betray that girl's trust.

Jaune took hold of Bleiss' hand and moved it from his chest. "You have to stop this."

Thankfully she made no further physically aggressive moves, but at the same time she did not appear the be the slightest bit deterred. "I suppose you're right. Our first time shouldn't be in a smelly locker room on a wooden bench. How does a five-star hotel sound? Courtesy of daddy's lien, of course."

Jaune's jaw clenched. "W-" he started, before correcting himself. "Bleiss. Stop."

His words were firm, and that finally registered with the girl. For the first time a trace of anger showed on her face. "What's your problem?"

"Do you have any idea what you're doing? Do you know what kinds of problems you're causing?"

"Do you think I give a fuck?"

When he thought about it, she probably didn't care at all. It wasn't her body, after all. Bleiss seemed to realize what was going on just as much as he, Ruby and Weiss herself did. She came and went, seemingly at random. Whatever chaos and confusion she caused, Weiss had to deal with the fallout. Weiss on the other hand was a model student and person, and as a result Bleiss never had to worry about what her other side did. It was the most parasitic relationship imaginable.

"No, but I do," Jaune said firmly. He reached into his pants pocket and dug out his scroll.

Bleiss eyed him suspiciously. "What are you doing?"

"I'm calling Ruby," he told her. "Pyrrha. Yang. Whoever will come. Because I know I'm not strong enough to deal with you alone."

" _Pyrrha_ ," the girl spat disdainfully.

He ignored the comment. He had no idea what Bleiss had against his partner, but right now that wasn't his main concern. Getting backup in order to subdue her was.

Putting the scroll to his ear, he was relieved when he heard Ruby answer. "Ruby, I need you to come down to the locker room. Bleiss is here and..."

He was interrupted before he could finish his request when Bleiss grabbed his hand. "Are you fucking narking on me?"

Jaune let out a gasp as she squeezed down on his wrist. Tiny or not, that girl had a vice's grip in those small, delicate fingers of hers. Off to the side where he still held onto his scroll he could hear Ruby's voice asking what was going on.

He didn't give her a response, but it was obvious to her that she was correct. "Fuck this," she breathed. "I'm outta here."

She released him and started to walk off. But she was stopped in her tracks when this time it was Jaune who reached out to grab her by the wrist. "Wait. Please. Wait for Ruby."

A soft smile played on her lips as Bleiss shook her head. "Sorry, Jaune. But right now I just gotta go blow off some steam."

"But-"

Jaune was silenced when she put a finger to his lips. "Shhh. It's okay, darling. We had our first fight." Her smile widened and became more loving as she spoke. "Couples have fights all the time. They're a healthy part of a relationship. And now that it's out in the open we can move past it. But right now I really just need to go and get all this fucking anger out of my system. Okay?"

"Bleiss, please-"

"Unless you're going to say, 'Bleiss please have hot, passionate makeup sex with me', you need to let go. Because the only way I'm going to get this shit out of my system is by fucking you or getting wasted. And I don't think you're in the mood to fuck me right now, are you?"

Jaune couldn't count the number of times this girl had spoken words he would have never expected to come out of Weiss' mouth. Here was yet another example. "No," he said firmly. "I'm not."

Bleiss giggled softly and shook her head. "I guess that kiss I gave you yesterday must have driven you insane. Can't say I blame you though." She brought a finger up and traced her lips. "You've probably been thinking about kissing these lips for months now. You still need time to process that you finally got the girl of your dreams. Maybe next time I see you you'll be thinking a little clearer. And you'll be able to admit what... and who, you really want."

In an instant Jaune felt himself lifted off the ground and forced back into the lockers. Panic-stricken eyes looked around to see a quartet of spinning black glyphs holding him in place. One for each arm and leg.

Pinned against the lockers, all he could do was look down at the raven-haired girl who strolled up to regard him. "Fuck," she breathed huskily. "You look so good up there. We are absolutely using those glyphs in the bedroom. Because as much I as I want to be dominated by you... I wouldn't mind you being the one at my mercy too..."

Those words filled Jaune with emotions he was hard-pressed to describe. They were so wrong, yet so tantalizing. Bleiss wanted him so badly. He could only hope that he had the strength and resolve to resist her at every turn. It would only take one failure to ruin everything.

"See you next time, Jaune," she winked as she sauntered out of the locker room.

A few seconds later the glyphs released him, sending Jaune plummeting unceremoniously to the floor. Picking himself up, he dashed outside to look for his quarry.

Sadly she was nowhere in sight.

* * *

The thumping bass of music slammed against her chest as she sat at the bar. Even in her slightly tipsy state she could rationalize and lament the fact that music wasn't what she wanted hammering her on this night. No, the target of her desires had eluded her once again. Not because he had literally escaped her, of course. He simply wasn't willing. That one simple fact ruined everything.

Bleiss toyed with the half empty glass in front of her as she replayed the events from earlier in the evening over and over again. She had Jaune alone. They had privacy. Even if the locker room wasn't the ideal place for them to both lose their virginity, she had given him options. The honeymoon suite of a hotel in downtown Vale had been on the table. She would have been on the table too. Or bent over it, if that was what he wanted. She would have done anything he liked if she could only get a piece of that sweet Arc ass.

So why had he rejected her? _Again?_ Anger and bitterness filled Bleiss' heart as the question repeated itself over and over in her mind. What more could she do to make her intentions clear? What more could she say to make her feelings known?

A pair of names continuously floated in her brain. Weiss and Pyrrha. Two obstacles which stood in her way. Which stood in the way of she and her man getting together. Pyrrha because she was his partner. And Weiss because of the body that they shared.

Coming to the realization that she shared a body with another girl had been hard to accept. But in the end all she could do was do just that. She was merely another side to the girl known as Weiss Schnee. Bleiss, as she had decided to start calling herself, was nothing more than a byproduct. But to what extent, she could not say.

Perhaps that one non-pornographic book which Blake loved so much could yield clues.

As she downed the last of her latest drink, she heard a voice from beside her. "What's up? Never seen you around before."

Looking over to her right, Bleiss saw a girl in a short white and teal dress take a seat beside her. Bright jade eyes sparkled in the strobe lights. Pale skin was framed perfectly by long black hair similar to her own, only straight and smooth rather than bound in a ponytail.

"First time here," Bleiss answered nonchalantly. "But I like it. I'll be back for sure."

"Good to hear," the girl said with a smile. "Love the outfit too. Don't you, Miltia? Looks way better than the normal skanks up in this place."

The girl was looking past her now. Bleiss turned around to see that someone had taken a seat to the left of her as well. For a moment she feared she was drunker than she realized, because she saw the exact same face which sat to her right. Upon further inspection she realized that the girl on her left wore red and had shorter hair. For all other intents and purposes however, they looked the same.

"It's nice," the girl apparently named Miltia agreed.

"Yeah it is," the first girl said. "I'm Melanie, by the way. That's my sister Miltia."

Bleiss smiled and nodded. "Bleiss."

"So whatcha doing out here all alone, Bleiss? I mean, who comes to a club by themselves?"

It wasn't as she was here by choice. Being rejected again by Jaune had pissed her off. The fact that there were girls in his life who were more important than her _really_ pissed her off. Pyrrha. Ruby. Weiss herself. Fuck them. Fuck them all.

"'Cause my friends are assholes," she spat. "Fucking bitches."

Melanie hummed. "So it's one of those nights, huh? I totally get that. Sometimes you just gotta get fucking plastered and forget all about that bullshit."

Bleiss' eyes lit up with excitement. "Finally! Someone who fucking gets me!"

The other girl smiled, before looking over to the man behind the bar. "Hey, Junior! A round for us and our new friend!"

The tall... very tall man behind the counter grunted. What an absurd name. How could someone that massive be named Junior? His height put Jaune to shame.

In no time a trio of shot glasses were presented to the girls. Bleiss eyed the amber liquid curiously, but soon noted how Melanie had downed it in one go. She did the same, and her eyes widened in amazement. "Wow, this is good shit."

"Mistrali Gold," Melanie explained. "Junior only serves us like, the best stuff around."

Bleiss had never had that kind of drink before. In fact, as far as she could remember, Weiss had never drank much period. She only ever touched the stuff during events and gatherings in Atlas, and even then it was only to be polite. Fine wines were her preferred drink. She had never touched anything hard like she had tonight. It was a wonder her tiny body was able to handle it at all.

She ran her tongue across her lips to savor the taste of what remained there. "Is there more?"

Melanie smiled again. "You want another? Our friend totally owns the place, so we can get you all the free drinks you want."

Bleiss had no idea who Melanie and Miltia were in relation to the club's owner, but she knew one thing. She had just found her new best friends.

"Keep 'em coming," she smiled. A look over to Miltia showed that she had not yet finished her drink. But that was fine. More for her then.

Another drink slid up to her, and Bleiss took a more savory sip this time. She winced through clenched teeth, this time feeling it more on her tongue. "That's strong."

"Damn straight it is," Melanie agreed as she poured back another shot. She tapped the empty glass on the counter to summon Junior once again. The man gave her a refill without comment. "So come on. Tell us what happened with your friends."

 _Friends_ , she thought disdainfully. Friends who had tried to all but capture her and prevent her from going out. Friends who treated her like a freak. Friends who wouldn't stop clam jamming her.

Could one really call those kinds of people friends?

They didn't get her. It was that simple. They didn't know how to let loose. They didn't know how to have fun. They didn't understand the desires of her body and heart. To be honest she didn't know what Weiss saw in any of them. If she didn't have to be stuck with them all day because of being on the same time, Bleiss herself wouldn't have given any of them the time of day. She had only known Melanie and Miltia for a few minutes now, but it was clear that they understood her on a level which her so called friends didn't.

The only one she would ever willingly spend time with was the one that seemingly wanted nothing to do with her. That stung.

That stinging prompted more drinks.

More drinks came.

Bleiss didn't know how much time had passed. She didn't know how many drinks she had consumed as she talked to the twins. All she knew was that it was cathartic. It was fun. Just shooting the shit with a couple girls who knew how to let their hair down and have fun was amazing. The free drinks were amazing as well. She had planned on putting her tab on the company credit card again simply to spite her father, but sadly she did have a set allowance. She would just have to go out again and find another place to blow all the man's money.

She told the twins about Ruby. About Yang. Pyrrha. And especially Jaune. All the people in her life who made it either unbearable, or seemingly the only thing worth living for. For all of them except for the boy, the insults flowed freely. Laughter accompanied them all. Ruby or Yang would have never been able to do this. They would have never been able to keep up with her. They were too concerned about being good little girls. About appearances. About not offending anyone. About getting good grades. All that stupid, petty shit.

At the end of it all, Bleiss realized one thing. She loved this place. And she loved the people. "You know what?" she slurred. "If I were gay, I'd fuck the shit out of both of you," she said to Melanie. "At the same time."

Melanie laughed at the statement. "If Miltia were bi I might just take you up on that offer," she replied with a wink. The girl leaned over the bar to get a better look at her sister. "Mil, I like this bitch. Can we keep her?"

Bleiss heard a sigh from her left. "For the last time, Melanie. You can't own people."

The girl in white scoffed dismissively. "Tell that to the last guy ball gagged and tied to my bedpost."

"Rather not, Mel. TMI."

"Sorry, but I belong to someone already anyway," Bleiss interjected. Her face soured as she recalled his actions from earlier in the day. "If the guy ever pulls his head from out of his ass, that is."

The girl to her right cooed. "What's wrong? Guy problems?"

"Yes."

"See, the thing about guys is that you gotta be direct," Melanie explained. "Guys are fucking stupid and they think with their cocks. What's his name again? Jaune?"

Bleiss nodded. "Mmhmm."

"Yeah. This Jaune guy will too if you keep it up." Melanie winked exaggeratedly, and Bleiss wasn't sure if it was by design or if she too were a little too wasted. "And I do mean, _keep it up_."

If only it were that simple. Bleiss had tried that before to no effect. "I've tried being forward. He didn't respond."

"Maybe try toning it down a little," the far less inebriated voice of Miltia suggested. "Maybe, like, a little more traditional romance or something?"

"Nah, fuck that shit," her sister disagreed. "Fucking... just... I dunno. Make him an offer he can't refuse or whatever."

Bleiss had no idea what that meant, but it sounded good. Therefore it must have been a good idea. Still, she needed suggestions from the girl who clearly knew what she was talking about. "I don't know how though," she admitted. "And I'm having a hard time getting him alone 'cause my friends don't want me to be alone with him. Especially this one fucking bitch Pyrrha who monopolizes all his time. How am I supposed to compete with that when she's his partner?"

"I dunno. Sucks to be you. See, that's why I don't waste my time with relationships and stuff. Pump 'em and dump 'em. That's my motto."

"That's the problem. I wanna fuck him and he wants no part of it."

Melanie burst out in laughter. "Are you sure he's into girls then? You're fucking hot. What guy wouldn't want you?"

Even in her drunken state, Bleiss felt suddenly self-conscious about herself. Melanie was right. Why _didn't_ Jaune jump at the chance to have her? Was his loyalty to those other bitches really that strong? Did the head on his shoulders really overpower the head in his pants?

She knew for a fact that Jaune was into girls. He was into one very specific girl, in fact. He was into Weiss. So why then wouldn't he go after her when he had the chance? Did she need to dye her hair white and put on blue contacts so he'd be interested in her? It wasn't fair.

"Wow, Mel," Bleiss said sadly. "Way to kick a girl in the cunt while she's down."

She laughed once more. "Shit, sorry. But ya know what? Maybe you should bring boy toy along next time. You and me could totally tag team his ass. No guy would say no to that."

"Sorry, but that ass is mine and mine alone."

Melanie shrugged. "Whatever. Either way. Bring him with next time you come out. A few drinks can be really persuasive."

What the girl said was definitely true. Alcohol loosened more than just the tongue. The problem was, she didn't want it to happen like that. She didn't want _him_ like that. Bleiss could have taken what she wanted from Jaune earlier in the locker room, but she hadn't. Because he hadn't wanted it. It had to be mutual. He had to love her as much as she loved him.

Bleiss shook her head. "Nah. When I fuck him I want it to be real. 'Cause he wants it too. True love and all that shit. You know?"

"That's so sweet," Miltia said genuinely. She looked over the counter to regard her sister. "Maybe Melanie can learn something from you."

Melanie dismissed her sister with the wave of her hand. "Nah. I mean I feel you and all, but that shit just isn't for me. Too much drama."

Bleiss was about to respond when she felt her scroll buzz. Reaching down and fishing it from her pocket, she saw that she had about two dozen text messages from a variety of people. She had only felt the latest one. They'd been trying to get a hold of her for hours now.

"Shit, it's past one in the morning?"

"Problem?"

"Eh, not really," she admitted. "School tomorrow, but who the fuck cares?"

"That's what I like to hear," Melanie smiled. "You up for another round?"

As much as she would have liked to, she probably should get back. The last thing she wanted was to black out, and she wasn't sure how much more she could take before she totally lost control of her inhibitions. "Nah, I need to get going." She stood up slowly, using the bar counter to balance herself. "But I'll be back this weekend. I'll try to bring Jaune along too." She blinked, looking around in confusion. "Shit. Which way's out?"

The familiar melodic laughter of Melanie filled her ears. "Shit, this chick's totally gone. Miltia, call her a cab?"

"Sure," the softer spoken twin said. "Air ship terminal, right?"

Bleiss nodded. "Mmhmm."

The remainder of the night was a blur of flashing lights and turbulence until she stepped foot back on Beacon's grounds. Her bed had never felt as good as it had when her head finally hit the pillow. She was out despite the squeaky cries of protest which came from her partner's mouth.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I have to say, I've been blown away by how popular this fic has gotten. I never would have expected it. I mean... this is Bleiss! How is Bleiss this popular?

Originally I had planned to be a little more infrequent with updates for this story, only really writing it when I got in the mood. However, after all the reviews and private messages I've received telling me how much they love Black Mirror, and asking when I'm going to update, that gave me a little kick in the ass to update it more frequently. So I hope I can do that now.

You may have noticed that this story has some really awesome new cover art. Unbeknownst to me, my friend **Booya93** actually commissioned **ThyBlake** to draw that absolutely gorgeous piece of Bleiss art. Definitely check them out if you can. They do amazing work. My deepest thanks go out to both **Booya93** and **ThyBlake** for making that art come to life.

And of course my thanks go out to all of you for your continuous support. I truly appreciate you all.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

The first thing Weiss felt when she opened her eyes was pain. Pain from the light filtering in through the window. Pain in her throat as she took a breath of air. Pain in her body as she shifted in her bed. And most of all, pain in her stomach as she fought back the urge to expel its contents on her pillow.

Weiss forced herself up on to her hands and knees as she stared down at her bed. It was an arduous task in and of itself, and her body protested against the sudden movements. Was she sick? She could not recall feeling any sign of illness coming on last night. But that didn't matter. Right now all that did matter was that something was coming up. She was not about to sully her sheets with it.

Dashing as quickly as she could to her team's bathroom, the contents of her stomach were expelled loudly. Painfully. Weiss had not been this sick in years. What could it be? Food poisoning, maybe? She very much doubted it was a virus caught from another person. Those usually just didn't come out of nowhere like this had.

It took around a minute for Weiss to feel confident that she had gotten it all out of her system. As she went to go wash up, she looked herself in the mirror, and was horrified to see the image that looked back at her. For not the first time in her life, she silently willed the mirror to tell her something.

Clad in a dark red tank top and a cruelly spiked leather jacket, Weiss almost did not recognize the girl who was staring back at her. Her lips were covered in unfamiliar black lipstick. Eyeliner and eye shadow made her icy blue orbs stand out all the more from her pale skin. If not for her scar and trademark Schnee eyes and hair, she would have believed it was an entirely different person. Then again, maybe it was.

"Bleiss..." she whispered.

Her "sickness" suddenly made sense. Maybe it wasn't an illness at all. With a clearer head now, as well as a burning desire for answers, Weiss thought back to the previous night. She tried to recall the last memory she had from the previous day. As it turned out, those memories seemed to stop sometime around the early evening. The pieces were coming together now. It all made sense.

Bleiss had taken control again. And Bleiss had done something in order to make her like this the following morning. She had a pretty good idea of what it might be too. Despite never having gotten drunk, Weiss was familiar with the signs and behavior of a hangover. The other personality which lived inside of her had decided to go out drinking last night. To have all the fun herself, and to leave her other half to deal with the consequences.

Her hands and face were washed. Her teeth were brushed. Feeling confident that she no longer reeked of vomit and alcohol, Weiss opened the door only to be greeted by the wide, concerned eyes of her partner.

Ruby rushed forward, pulling the girl into a tight hug. "Weiss! I'm so glad you're okay!"

The heiress' arms hung limply at her side. It wasn't that she didn't want to return the embrace. She merely didn't have the energy to do much of anything. "What happened?" she asked.

After pulling away, Ruby reached out and grabbed hold of her friend's hand. Dragging her back over to their makeshift bunk beds, Ruby forced the girl to sit before taking a seat beside her. "You... you managed to escape again last night," she said softly. Shamefully. "You always do. It's like, if your other half wants to do something, she'll find a way."

Weiss could only nod. She herself was a strong and independent person. When she set her mind to something, she would do it. She would cross oceans and traverse continents just to escape the reach of her father. Apparently the other girl who lived inside her was no different. She possessed an indomitable will that could not be suppressed.

"You were gone for a few hours," Ruby continued. "We tried calling you, but you never answered. But then finally you came back." She shifted uncomfortably before speaking again. "Well, not you. Other you. You had the black hair and red eyes. You just kinda... collapsed onto your bed and fell asleep. You were out cold."

Again, Weiss said nothing. The story only confirmed her suspicions. Bleiss had apparently gone out drinking, and come home drunk before passing out. Thankfully there was no lasting damage to her body as far as she could tell.

"When it looked like you weren't gonna wake up, and you weren't in any danger, we all finally went to sleep. Well, not all of us," she amended. "We all took turns staying up and watching over you to make sure you'd be okay. Like how we kept watch back at Mountain Glenn."

Those words warmed Weiss' heart. Her teammates, her family, truly cared for her. It was comforting to know that despite how little control she seemed to have over this rogue entity in her mind, at least her friends would always be there for her.

"I see," Weiss said at last. "You don't know if I did anything... bad out there? Do you?"

Ruby shook her head. "Nope. This is the first we've talked since you got back. But you're okay, right? Aside from the whole puking thing?"

Aside from the pain and discomfort of the hangover, Weiss felt fine. The hangover would pass. And then she would be able to move on with her life. That was, until the next time Bleiss appeared and took control.

"I'll be okay," she said. The words seemed hollow. Even if she would be physically okay, the anxiety of not knowing how and when Bleiss would rear her head again was torture. "I just... I don't feel too well."

Ruby smiled softly as she nodded her head. "And that's why you're staying here today. No class for you."

Be absent for school? The idea was unthinkable for Weiss. She had never missed a day of classes in her life. She would never dream of missing a day at Beacon. The lessons she learned here could be potentially lifesaving.

The heiress spoke up in protest of the idea. "Ruby, I feel fine." Physically at least. Sort of. Okay, not really. Her body still ached. She could throw up again at any time. She just really did not want to miss any school. That would be like admitting defeat. Acknowledging that Bleiss had taken something from her. "I really should be able to handle going to-"

She was cut off before finishing her sentence. "As team leader I hereby order you to stay in bed and recover!"

The order was probably meant to sound authoritative. Perhaps even threatening. However, coming out of Ruby who had all the qualities of an unthreatening puppy, as well as the squeaky voice of one's chew toy, it was impossible for her to be taken seriously.

"But-"

"No buts, Weiss! You will stay here! You will stay in bed! You will rest! And you will feel better!"

The girl felt her resolve weakening by the moment. Truth be told, she did want to stay in bed today. Her perfect record meant so little to her right now compared to the idea of resting. The idea of laying down beneath the covers and sleeping the rest of the morning away was an alluring one.

"Or have you forgotten, none of us care about missing class," Ruby said, referring to both herself and her teammates. "We'll make you stay here. All day if we have to."

Weiss had no doubt in her mind that they would do just that. None of them, not even Blake, cared about their academic careers as much as she did. To them missing a day of class would be well worth it if they could force her to stay put in this room.

In the end Weiss relented. Not only because of Ruby's threats, but because deep down she wanted it to. "Very well. I'll stay."

Ruby pumped her fist in victory. Weiss decided to let her have it. The girl need not know that there hadn't been much convincing needed.

"Okay, great! So is there anything I can get you? Chicken noodle soup?" Ruby gasped, stopping herself and changing course immediately. "What am I saying? That would be way too greasy for someone who just threw up! What about toast? Plain, dry toast? Want some of that?"

Currently Weiss had no appetite, but the sentiment was appreciated. "I'm fine, thank you," she offered with a soft smile. "Right now I think I just want to be left alone. I want to get some sleep. You three should go off and go to class. I'll call you if I need anything."

Silver eyes looked over her worryingly. "Are you sure? Maybe someone should stay and keep watch over you just in case."

What was she, a prisoner? She did not need twenty-four hour a day guarding. Such a thing reminded her of home back in Atlas where her every move and decision were monitored by her father. No, she was not some exotic animal at a zoo.

"Thank you, but no," she said. Besides, there seemed to be a pattern to the... Bleiss episodes. Once she took and relinquished control, she would not take control again for another half to full day. She was most likely safe... for now.

"Okay," Ruby said meekly. "But only if you're sure."

"I'm sure, Ruby. I just need some alone time."

The red-cloaked girl stood, but her eyes never left her partner and best friend. "You just make sure to call me if you need me, got it? No matter how small a thing it is. I'm here for you. We all are."

Weiss smiled and nodded. "I know, Ruby. Thank you."

"I'm gonna head off to class now. But... but you just feel better."

"I will. You've been very helpful."

The door opened, but Ruby was still slow to exit, and she lingered in the door frame. "Remember. The tiniest thing you need. You call one of us."

"Ruby!" Weiss said as loud as she dared with her sore throat. "I get it. You can leave."

"Right. I'll see you soon, Weiss."

She nodded once more. "Goodbye, Ruby. And thank you again."

Thankfully the younger girl finally left this time. It wasn't a moment too soon.

Seconds after the door closed Weiss' mask shattered. Tears began to well up in her eyes. Her carefully crafted persona of strength and confidence disappeared entirely as a pair of warm trails descended down her cheeks.

Weiss took a shuddering breath as the pain overwhelmed her. Not the physical pain she had woken up with. But rather the emotional and psychological pain. The feeling of not being in control of her life any longer. The fear that came with not knowing what the next day would bring. The knowledge that Bleiss could do something unthinkable and irreversible and that she herself would be unable to stop it. She could essentially die in her sleep and would never know it happened.

Grabbing hold of her scroll, she hoped that it might offer some sort of answer as to what exactly Bleiss did the previous night. As she looked through her messages she saw too many to count from a number of different people. Ruby. Yang. Blake. Even Jaune. All of them had messaged her hoping to find out what she was doing and where she had gone.

There was also a message from an unknown contact. One who was listed under the name "Hotter Twin". The message left by her was as confusing as the name itself.

 _Yo, bitch. You make it home okay last night?_

The question was paradoxical to the white-haired girl. Why was this person concerned with her safety if she called her such a derogatory name?

There was only one way to find out. Weiss set to work typing out a response for the message she had received hours ago.

 _I'm sorry. Who is this?_

There were so many unknowns. So much that was beyond her control. So many feelings building up inside her.

The tears flowed down her cheeks more as she put her scroll away. Right now she needed sleep. But what she also needed was a release. Crying was cathartic. After chasing Ruby away, it was exactly what she needed. She needed to cry.

Burying her face into her pillow, Weiss cried like she had not done in many years.

* * *

Jaune was running late. He tended to do that, even with the supervision of his team.

Rushing outside his team's room, he pulled the door shut after him and was all but ready to begin sprinting down the hall to his first class. Until he saw Ruby standing right next to her door as well. Only unlike him, she was not in a hurry. Anything but. She was standing still, her ear pressed up against the door. If he didn't know any better he would have described her face of one being in pain.

The sound of the closing door made her jump slightly, and Ruby turned her attention to the new arrival. "Oh, hi, Jaune," she said nervously, and took a few deliberate steps from the door. "What are you doing here?"

Did she not remember that their dorm rooms were right across the hall from one another? What a Rubyish question of her to ask. "Class. Late," he said, as if that explained everything.

The girl nodded enthusiastically. "Right! Yeah, those things. I remember now."

Jaune frowned. Ruby may have been an unusual and quirky girl, but she was being extra so today. The two started walking down the hall, and after a few seconds Jaune decided to press the issue. "What's going on?"

Silver eyes widened for a fraction of a second before looking away. "So you saw that, huh?"

It would have been difficult not to. After all, Ruby had been _right there_ next to him. "Is Weiss okay?"

He knew that the girl had returned safely the previous night, but since then he had received no new updates. With the distraught look on Ruby's face as she seemed to be listening to what was going on inside, Jaune assumed it could be nothing good.

The frown which slipped on his fellow leader's lips all but confirmed his suspicions. "She's having a rough time," Ruby admitted. "She's not feeling well too, so she's staying home from class today."

Jaune nodded. A part of him was genuinely shocked that Weiss Schnee of all people would be absent from classes, but an even greater part of him understood why. The past week had been terrible for the heiress. Upon learning just what was going on with her, it was a wonder that Weiss was not sequestering herself in her room under constant guard until it passed. She was a strong person to not have broken down completely. Much stronger than he was or would ever be.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" he asked hopefully. A pang of guilt flared up in his stomach. "Anything I can do?"

The fact that Weiss, or rather Bleiss, had gone missing last night after his confrontation with her was not lost upon the boy. He blamed himself for what Weiss' dark reflection had done. If he hadn't called for Ruby to come to the locker room, she would not have run off out of fear of being captured. She would not have stayed out for much of the night, doing who knows what with the body of his friend.

"I don't know," Ruby admitted. The soft, meek voice in which she said the words told of how desperate and powerless Ruby felt about the whole situation as well. "I offered to stay with her today, but she refused. She said she just wanted to be alone."

Jaune could understand that. Sometimes you just needed to be alone. He knew that he had acted similarly back when he and Pyrrha had their first fight. Back when the truth about his transcripts had come out. But through that experience he also realized that pushing other people away was unhealthy. That it would not do any good in the end. A support group was vital to a person no matter what their situation was in life. And it was especially important when one was going through a difficult time.

So with that in mind, Jaune summoned the courage to ask a difficult question. "Do you think I can talk to her?"

Ruby looked at him with uncertainty in her eyes. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

Maybe it wasn't. But Jaune wanted to let Weiss know that he was there for her. He wanted to apologize for his role in what happened yesterday. And most of all, he wanted to tell her about a new plan that he had come up with as a result of what had happened yesterday. A plan that would require her express permission. The sooner he could get that permission, the better.

"It's important," he said. At this point he had stopped walking, not wanting to get too far away from the dorm. Ruby responded in kind, and the two stood idly in the hall. "I think it will help her out. If she agrees, that is."

A glimmer of hope appeared in those normally optimistic and eager eyes of his friend. "Really?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I know that it might not be the best time to ask her, but it's better to get it out of the way now before Bleiss shows up again. If we can be prepared for the next time, then something like this might not happen again."

This time it was Ruby who nodded. Even without knowing the details of his plan, she knew that anything that would make Weiss' life easier could only be a good thing. "Okay," she agreed. "But only a few minutes, okay? Weiss probably really doesn't want any company right now."

"Right, only a few minutes," Jaune confirmed. "It won't take long."

"Alright," she said as she turned and began walking back to her room. Seconds later they stood in front of the door, and Ruby's scroll came up to unlock the entrance. "I really hope it's a good plan, Jaune. Because I don't have any ideas that don't involve basically keeping her locked up in our room."

Taking a deep breath, Jaune reached for the handle. "Yeah. Me too."

Pushing the door open only a few inches, Jaune moved his head so that he could hear inside the room. A few shuffling sounds of sheets met his ear, followed shortly after by a tired sounding voice. "Ruby?"

Jaune glanced over to the girl in question, and she gave him a reassuring nod. "No. It's Jaune," he spoke softly through the ajar door.

More shuffling. Quicker this time. Almost panicked. "Go away."

The words stung. They weren't like Weiss' normal 'go away' words when he had been trying to ask her out on a date or to the dance. This was just like what Ruby had said. She obviously wasn't feeling well. Both physically and emotionally.

He looked back over to Ruby for her assessment of Weiss' request. There was a soft frown on her face, but other than that she made no indication that they should leave. Instead, it was she who pushed her way past Jaune and entered the room.

"Weiss, Jaune has something he needs to tell you," Ruby said as she stood near the entrance of the room. After a few seconds, and perhaps some sort of unseen gesture on the part of the other girl, Ruby turned to him and motioned for him to enter.

Jaune did so, and upon seeing Weiss his heart shattered. She was still clad in those strange clothes she had been wearing the previous day. Only now that carefully applied eyeliner and mascara was smudged and ruined. Dark trails lined her cheeks, and it was obvious as to why. It was also obvious as to why Weiss had wanted to be alone.

He had dealt with his fair share of devastated young women in his life. Having several older sisters made drama an almost regular occurrence. Whether it was fights between siblings, heartbreak over their love lives, or something else entirely, Jaune knew that he had to tread carefully in such emotional times. Being here with Weiss was no different.

Taking care not to look at her when he spoke, and not to make her feel self-conscious in her moment of weakness, Jaune started what he had set out to do. "Weiss, I'm sorry," he said softly. Genuinely. The lump in his throat when he uttered the words nearly stopped him from speaking next. "I'm so sorry."

He heard a small sniffle from where she sat on her bed. Ruby had taken a seat next to her and draped an arm around her shoulders. Surprisingly Weiss made no effort to fight the girl off. "It's not your fault," she said equally as soft.

"It was," he insisted. "When I ran into you..." he stopped and shook his head before correcting himself. "Bleiss, yesterday, I called Ruby. I thought it was the right thing to do. But... but then I guess she got spooked. I don't know. Maybe she thought that we were all going to try and capture her or something. Confine her. So she ran off. And did whatever she did last night afterward."

For agonizingly long seconds the room was silent. Jaune finally decided to give the two girls his full attention. He saw that Weiss was staring down at the floor. "That's still not your fault," she insisted.

Maybe it wasn't. But Jaune still felt as though he had the power to make things turn out differently. Out of all of their friends, Bleiss seemed to have some strange obsession with him. It was one that could be used to their advantage. It was all part of the plan.

"I upset her when I rejected her yesterday," he explained. "She said she needed to go and blow off some steam. If I hadn't... if I had just... I don't know. If I had done something differently then she wouldn't have gone off on her own."

For the first time Weiss looked up at him. Those beautiful blue eyes of hers were tinted red from the tears she had shed. "What? If you had slept with her things would be better?" she asked bitterly.

The accusation stung. Jaune shook his head wildly. That had never been his intention. "No, never!" he insisted. "I would never do that, Weiss. No matter what. You believe me, right?"

Icy eyes averted their gaze from him once more, and Weiss nodded softly in agreement. "I know. I'm sorry, Jaune. I shouldn't snap at you because of my condition."

The boy took a step forward. "It's okay," he smiled. "Whatever you need to do, I can take it. I'm here for you, remember?"

She nodded again. "It's still no excuse."

"Weiss," Ruby interrupted. "Jaune said he has a plan. Something that might make things better."

The heiress looked up at him, an almost hopeful look in her liquid-blue eyes. "Really?"

After her choice of words just moments ago, Jaune wasn't sure how she would take the idea. He only hoped that she might have an open mind about it. "So like I said, after I... rejected Bleiss, she ran off. It got me thinking, maybe we're going about this the wrong way. What we're doing isn't working. Maybe we shouldn't treat her like a wild animal that needs to be caged."

Weiss' eyes went wide. Something he had just said struck a nerve with her. "A cornered animal is the most dangerous kind," she offered.

Jaune had heard that piece of wisdom before. It was right along the lines of what he had just said as well. "Right. Having Ruby or someone else around to try and stop Bleiss from doing anything only makes her want to do things more. Treating her like a prisoner makes her want to escape. Treating her like she's a problem and trying to control her seems to make her react badly."

"Control would be important to her," Weiss agreed.

"So, what I'm thinking is..." he said uneasily before trailing off. Here came the sales pitch. "We give her what she wants."

Icy eyes widened again. "Excuse me?"

Jaune's hands rose in front of his chest and waved wildly. "No no, not like that!" he insisted. "None of the, uh, adult stuff she's into. Nothing like that. I would never, uh... compromise your... virtue?"

The words hung in the air for a few moments before a tiny smile curled on Weiss' lips. She snorted a soft laugh before speaking. "My virtue? What, did you get that out of one of Blake's books?"

Jaune had heard tales of Blake's choice in literature, but had never seen any of it for himself. He could not comment either way on the question. "I don't know. But the point is, if she wants to spend time with me, I'll let her. She can talk all she wants. We'll spend time together. Stuff that'll make her happy. But I would never let it go beyond that. I would never do anything bad with her... with you," he said, attempting to clarify his stance on their shared body. "But only if you trust me. If you believe me when I say I would never take advantage of you."

There it was. His idea. Appease Bleiss so that Weiss would not suffer her wrath. Never give the black-haired girl what she seemed to truly desire, but give her enough to be happy and content. If Jaune's suspicions were true, a happy Bleiss would mean a happy Weiss.

The expressions of both girls were unreadable. Weiss' gaze had returned to the floor, while Ruby looked at her with a frown.

Finally though, Weiss gave him her full attention once more. "She really does seem to be infatuated with you, doesn't she?"

Jaune nodded grimly. "Yeah. For some reason."

"And you promise me nothing will happen?" she asked. "You give your word as an Arc?"

There was once a time where Jaune would have been thrilled that Weiss remembered his family's words. However, after everything that had occurred, he could feel no joy in this situation. Not when it meant Weiss was miserable. "I promise," he said sternly. With conviction. "I give you my word as an Arc. And an Arc never goes back on their word."

Weiss looked over to Ruby, who gave Weiss a small smile of approval. She was apparently on board with the plan as well. After taking a deep breath, Weiss looked back up at him. "It would be better to have someone I know present at all times when Bleiss is around. Someone to chaperon her. Seeing how she does seem to be infatuated with you... I suppose this plan is as good as any."

Jaune had just gotten Weiss to agree to spend time with him. Or rather, her other half. Like he had just mused, there was once a time he would have jumped for joy at the thought of Weiss willingly spending time with him. However, this was nothing to be happy about. This was out of necessity.

"Okay," he smiled. "I promise we'll make this work. I promise that nothing bad will happen either. We'll get through this until we figure out a way to stop it. To stop her."

"Thank you," Weiss said, before turning back to Ruby. "Thank you both. I... I feel a little bit more comfortable now. You're right. What we were trying before wasn't working. With my dust skills and Semblance, Bleiss could easily escape any confinement you tried to force upon her."

Jaune agreed wholeheartedly. The new idea wasn't to stop Bleiss. It was to give her just enough leeway to have her fun, but not do any lasting damage. To both Weiss and those around her.

"Right." He looked around and saw a tiny digital clock. He and Ruby were both very late for class, but he didn't care. Weiss came first. "So you're sure you're comfortable with the plan?"

Weiss nodded. "I trust you, Jaune. After what happened at the dance, I finally realized something. You genuinely do care about my happiness."

She must have been referring to the whole Neptune situation. Jaune was happy that she knew about what he had done. He wasn't seeking any kind of praise or thanks for his actions. But for Weiss to know that he cared for _her_ , for _Weiss_ , and not the fame or wealth that came along with her, was important to him. He wanted her to think of him as a true friend. Not just some guy who wanted to date her.

A hand reached up to rub the back of his neck. "Yeah. I'm... glad you know." He glanced at the clock again. He didn't want to make the girl any more uncomfortable than she already was by talking about all these personal feelings. "But I've probably stayed long enough as it is. Sorry for bothering you this morning, but I just wanted to talk about this. I hope it'll make things better."

"Thank you, Jaune. I appreciate what you're doing. I truly do."

With a smile and a nod, he said no more as he left the room, leaving the two teammates alone.

He could only hope that the next time Bleiss showed up that his plan would work.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** No Bleiss this chapter, but that just means you can expect a whole lot more of her next chapter.

Look at that, two chapters in less than a week! What can I say? Your love, support and feedback truly are great motivators. I hope to get chapter 6 out soon as well.

As always, thank you all for reading. Thank you all for making this strange little idea such a hit. It's been a lot of fun to write so far, and I think it will only get better moving forward.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

When Bleiss had "woken up" in the morning, she had expected herself to need to get ready for classes. However to her surprise, she found that all of her teammates were still asleep. She had pulled out her scroll to discover that it was late Saturday morning. On one hand she was thrilled. There would be no classes that the others would pressure her into attending. She would have a free day to do whatever, and _whoever_ , she desired. But on the other hand... she had "slept" through the entirety of Friday. That itself was concerning. She wondered if getting totally wasted the other night had anything to do with it.

However, she need not worry about a missed day right now. She was awake here and now, and she would not waste her time thinking about missed opportunities. Needing to spend some time away from her teammates, Bleiss wandered the halls of Beacon hoping to find something, or someone to entertain her. A certain blonde-haired boy was at the forefront of her mind. If he was awake, where would he be? Certainly he wouldn't stay cooped up in his dorm all day, right?

The feeling of her scroll vibrating her in pocket got her attention. Maybe it was Melanie. Having made a pair of awesome new friends out at the club a couple of nights ago, she had expressed interest in going back and hanging out again another time. And this time she would take Jaune along for the ride. Even if she wouldn't take Melanie's advice of sharing him with her, she could still ensure that they had a good time there.

A sudden surge of excitement filled her body. There would be plenty of guys willing to hit on her at the club. What if she could make Jaune jealous? Or make it so she seemed like she needed him to step in and defend her honor against the sleazy patrons who wished to hook up with her? A dreamy smile slipped on Bleiss' face as she imagined the scenario play out.

 _Oh Jaune, help me!_ she would cry. _These men are harassing me, and I think one just groped my butt!_

His face would be filled with rage as he stood up to his towering height. His arms would flex, muscles rippling beneath that adorable black hoodie of his. _Never fear, Bleiss_ , he would say chivalrously. _I'll deal with these degenerates!_

Then Jaune would proceed to beat the ever-loving crap out of each and every one of the half-innocent men, whose only real crime was the offer of buying her a drink. Blood would be shed. Bones would be broken. Panties would be soaked.

And then afterward Bleiss would give him his reward. She would plant a grateful kiss on his cheek before dragging him back into one of the club's bathrooms to utterly ravage and claim him for herself. Drinks wouldn't be the only thing to fill her on that evening if she had it her way.

Bleiss' arms wrapped around her torso, and her body swayed back and forth as she pictured the scene unfolding in her mind. It would be romantic. Violent. Thrilling. Unforgettable. She would show Jaune exactly what he had been foolishly turning down all this time. He would be begging for more by the time she was done with him. She would be more than happy to oblige.

Her scroll began to vibrate again. Bleiss shook her head. She had been so caught up in her wishful fantasy that she completely forgot about her incoming call.

Pulling out the scroll, she was disappointed to find that it was not Melanie calling her. Red eyes narrowed as she read the name which appeared on the screen.

Father.

Normally she would have simply ignored the call. It was what she, or rather Weiss, had always done. However, right now she was bored and wanted to have a little bit of fun.

Answering the call, and prepared to go off on him for interrupting her pleasant thoughts about Jaune, she greeted the man. "What's up, cuck?"

The man took a surprised breath of air, his eyes widening as he looked at her from thousands of miles away. "Weiss!" he exclaimed. "What have you done to yourself?"

Far less than she would have liked. And his interruption only ruined her planning. "The fuck are you talking about?" she spat.

Jacques' face began to turn red as his lips started to move. It took a few seconds for actual words to come out. "Your hair!" he shouted. "Your beautiful Schnee hair! Your eyes! I have no idea what sort of teenage rebellion you think this is, but I demand that you fix your appearance and look like a proper Schnee at once!"

Oh. This again. Right. Jacques wasn't exactly in the loop when it came to what was going on with his precious daughter. Even if she technically still was the man's daughter, she didn't feel like he was her father. On the contrary, there was only one man in the world that she would call _daddy_...

"Yeah, no," she said nonchalantly. "Gonna be a hard no on that. Sorry but not sorry."

More words and sentence fragments were sputtered out in reaction to her words. Her other half had never spoken to her father in such a manner. Jacques was a man who not only expected, but demanded obedience. Well, too bad. If Weiss was the good girl who followed all the rules, then Bleiss herself was rebellion incarnate. She wasn't about to take shit from anyone. Especially her father.

"Excuse me?" he finally managed to ask.

"I said no," she repeated. "I know you're not used to hearing that from the sycophants and yes-men you surround yourself with. But the answer is still no."

His face and eyes were brimming with rage. It was a wonder he hadn't had a stroke already. "Weiss, if you do not start showing me some respect this instant I will cut off your allowance. Don't think that I can't do that in the snap of a finger!"

He could. She knew that. And yet at the same time, she didn't care. Material possessions may have meant something to her other half, but they meant nothing to her. The only thing she wanted in life was something which she could not buy. Someone she could not buy.

"Figures, since you're only good for two things in life." She held up a finger. A very specific finger she hoped her father would notice. "One, being a good little pay pig. And two," she continued as she held up a second. "Being a good little sperm donor. Thanks for giving me life and all, but I think I'll take it from here."

Jacques was shocked. He was visibly shaking with anger. The redness of his flesh made his white hair stand out all the more. "How dare you speak to me in such a way! Has living in Vale made you forget your manners? Has it made you forget just who I am?"

Oh she knew who he was alright. A vile and selfish man who had married into her family for wealth and prestige. A man who had revealed as much to her mother during a fight at Weiss' tenth birthday party. He was a controlling, abusive and greedy specimen of a human being who deserved no respect. Least of all from his children.

"Do not force me to end this little charade of yours!" he continued. "You would be wise to remember your place, and remember that I can have you brought back to Atlas at my leisure! You are only being allowed to attend Beacon Academy as a courtesy, which I can have revoked immediately if you keep this up!"

"Keep it up," she quipped. "Something you can't do. That's why mom's getting it from someone else, isn't it?"

"I beg your pardon?" he shouted.

"Oh, I thought you knew already, since you are _the_ Jacques Schnee. Mom's cheating on with the pool boy," she said a little too happily. "You know, the faunus one? I think she picked that one specifically to fuck you over." A small smirk graced her lips with her choice of words. "Not literally of course. 'Cause she has the pool boy for that now."

Bleiss in fact had no idea if this was true or not, but she was selling the lie like it was the most real thing in the world. No one would ever call her poker face.

Her father's eyes were wide in both anger and shock now. It was clear that no one had ever spoken to the man in such a manner. The last person he had ever expected to talk back to him was his own daughter. A girl who despite having left Atlas for Beacon Academy as a form of rebellion, was still firmly planted under her father's thumb.

Heavy breaths could be seen and heard from the man on the scroll's screen. "Weiss I have no idea what has gotten into you, but you have crossed the line! Not only am I cutting off your allowance, but you are just begging for me to send somebody to Vale to bring you back home! Don't think that I won't do it!"

Threats. Bleiss didn't like threats. She smiled serenely at the man, accepting his challenge. "Make sure he brings a body bag with him," she whispered excitedly. "Because one way or another, one of us is coming back in it. And I don't intend for it to be me."

"Is that a threat, young lady?"

"You make a threat, I make a threat," she grinned. "That's how business works, isn't it, dad? Give and take. Compromise. We'll see who caves first I guess."

"Perhaps I should simply call the Vale Police Department and force them to give you a drug screening," he said, his voice suddenly a little bit calmer. "Because it's clear to me that you must have consumed something that is making you behave in such a manner. I'll be sure you go through intensive testing when you are home once more."

Oh she had. Little did the man know that it was an experimental dust elixir of his own company's design. Not that any kind of screening would ever pick up on such a thing, of course.

Bleiss licked her lips in anticipation. "Send your best, dad. If you come at me, you'd better not miss."

She wound up getting the last word of the argument, as the screen went blank shortly after she had uttered her warning.

Adrenaline and excitement were surging through her veins. What a fucking rush that had been. She, or rather Weiss, had been wanting to put that man in his place for years. Bleiss had finally gotten the opportunity to do just that. It felt good. It felt so good. It left her with a high that she was struggling to deal with and come down from. There were ways to get through that, however.

It was too early to go out and drink with the twins, but it was never too early to get herself off. Luckily Blake's pornography collection disguised as graphic novels was only a building away. Bleiss had already gone through some of the material, and she had to admit, her teammate had decent taste. She wondered what new treasures she might find in the "reading material" as she worked off the stress she had just accumulated.

Or at least, she would have done that if the most beautiful sight in all of Remnant had not just entered her view.

Bleiss couldn't explain why, but for whatever reason all of her anger and frustration had vanished the moment Jaune had appeared. Instead they were replaced with a feeling of inexplicable warmth. Safety. Affection. It was unlike anything her father, Whitley or even Neptune had ever provided her with. The only comparable feeling was what she felt from Winter. But even then, this kind of emotion was different. It was on a level beyond that of sibling love.

Knowing that she had to get her fix, Bleiss walked as quick as she could, bordering on a jog, over in Jaune's direction. She raised a hand up in the air to wave him down as she called out to him. "Hey! Jaune!"

The boy down the hall stopped and turned, his eyes widening slightly as the black-clad girl ran toward him. To his credit, Jaune didn't run. At least he wasn't totally spooked by her after their last encounter.

Bleiss had to admit that she may have been a little... forceful with him. Using her glyphs to pin him to the wall might have been a little excessive to make her escape. She would just have to make it up to the boy. Not in the way that he might expect, nor that she might want. She was actually considering being a little less eager in her advances toward Jaune. He wasn't used to that sort of affection, especially from Weiss.

The look on Jaune's face bordered somewhere between panic and uncertainty. He was utterly adorable when he was nervous. "Bleiss," he managed to squeeze out. "You're back."

Eyelashes fluttered as Bleiss' hands folded themselves nearly in front of her body. "How are you today, Jaune?"

He shrugged softly. "I'm fine, I guess. How about you?"

If there was ever such thing as forced courtesy, that was it. It was obvious to her that he still didn't know how to act around her. It was such a shame. Maybe she really had come on too strong to start things off. But how could she not? How could she resist him? How could _Weiss_ resist him? That dumb cunt whose body she inhabited had no idea what she was missing out on with Jaune. If Weiss could only see him through her crimson eyes, then she might understand that he was a one in a million catch.

"Oh, I'm great," she said, recalling her recent conversation with her father. "Peachy-fucking-keen in fact. So whatcha up to?"

"Um, not much. I was just-"

Jaune was cut off at the sound of an annoying, ringing alarm coming from Bleiss' scroll. Her lips twisted in anger, thinking that it was her father calling back for another round of verbal sparring. "For fuck's sake," she spat as she ripped her scroll from her pocket.

To her surprise it wasn't her father. It wasn't an incoming call at all. It was a reminder set on the scroll's calendar.

 _Detention in 15 minutes._

Bleiss wanted to laugh. Just how uptight was her other half? Actually putting a reminder that she had detention today? What a ridiculous idea. Even more ridiculous was the thought that she might actually serve it.

"Do you need to take that call?" Jaune asked. "I'll get out of your hair."

The mention from the boy that he would be leaving immediately snapped Bleiss from her thoughts. Her first instinct was to lash out and grab him by the wrist, but she restrained herself from doing so. "Nah, it's just a dumb reminder Weiss set 'cause she has detention today."

"Oh. Well, still. You should go do that."

"Fuck that," she scoffed. "I just found you. I wanna hang out with my sweet blonde baby. It's been too long since we've seen each other, and... I wanna make up for what I did to you the other day."

"What you did to me?"

"You know. The glyphs, the fight..." she looked away, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "Our first fight, Jaune. I know we didn't get a chance to have makeup sex, but there are other ways I can make it up to you too..."

For long seconds Jaune said nothing. He was clearly uncomfortable with the situation. So it was a relief when he finally spoke. "You want to make it up to me?"

"Yes. Anything you want," she said. She added a seductive wink before continuing. " _Anything_."

"Go to detention."

Bleiss felt as though her heart had just been pierced by a dagger. "What?"

"Detention. You, or actually Weiss, has to serve it. Probably because of something you did. If you want to make it up to me, go and serve the detention. Clear her name."

She had said anything, but this wasn't the sort of anything she had been hoping he would ask for. Why couldn't he be like a normal guy and just ask for a quick blowjob or something?

In any case, Bleiss saw an opportunity before her. She may have not been Weiss, but she was still a Schnee. She was still Jacques' daughter. Unethical business practices were in her blood. Her attending detention was important to Jaune. She would gladly do it, on one very specific condition.

"You want me to do the detention thing?"

"Yes."

"Okay," she smiled. "On one condition."

The look of uncertainty on his face was priceless. "What condition..."

"I'll do it if you go on a date with me."

The deep breath Jaune took through his nose told the whole story. He had not been expecting that. And now that all his cards had been laid out on the table, he knew that he had been backed into a corner. If he said no, then she would not go to detention. Weiss would get in even more trouble. And he would have nobody to blame but himself.

"Okay," he began, much to her surprise. "But I have a condition of my own."

She really hoped it was a handjob underneath the desk. "What's that?"

"If I go on a date with you, will you stop being so destructive toward Weiss? Will you stop ruining her life?"

The touch of concern in his voice would have been heartbreaking if it wasn't focused on the wrong girl. Why was Jaune so concerned about Weiss? Why did he have to fall for _her_ , and not her better, sexier, and more fun half? Why couldn't he be concerned about her own happiness and what she wanted, rather than Weiss?

Bleiss folded her arms and looked away. The bitterness manifested itself in her defensive posture and tone. "I'm not ruining her life."

"She didn't go to class yesterday because she was dealing with a hangover. The one that you didn't have to go through because you were gone by the time it happened." There was a seriousness in his voice. A commanding tone that would have had her on her knees at a moment's notice if that's what he demanded of her.

If it hadn't been directed toward her with such scorn, that is.

"I wasn't there, but I'm sure this detention is all your fault too," he continued. "Whether you realize it or not, your actions have consequences. And usually she's the one who has to deal with them. That's not fair, Bleiss. To her or anyone else who cares for her."

If that white-haired bitch only knew how much Jaune cared for her, she'd be even thirstier for him than Bleiss herself was. Why couldn't Jaune look at her that way? Why couldn't he realize that she was everything that he wanted, and that she was more than willing to be his?

He drove a hard bargain. If this was the only way that she would be able to spend time alone with him, then so be it. It wasn't as if she truly had anything to lose. She couldn't care less about giving Weiss a hard time. It wasn't as if she was actively trying to ruin the girl's life. If toning down her antics meant a date with Jaune to show him what he was missing, then that was a winning scenario.

"Deal," she said happily, offering her hand out. Jaune looked down at it, and after a moment reached out with his own. As they shook, Bleiss got goosebumps at the feeling of his hand holding hers. His nice, big strong hand. "Our date begins now," she said as she began walking. She did not relinquish hold of his hand, and began pulling him along after her.

"W-what?" he stuttered, but followed along all the same. "You said you would go to your detention."

Bleiss turned around, walking backwards as she maintained her grip on Jaune's hand. "And I am," she smiled. "You're coming with me."

"I am?"

"Mmhmm!" That smile erupted into a full, toothy grin. "We're going to spend a nice hour in detention together, and then after a brief intermission we're going to continue our date later tonight." A look of sudden recollection appeared on her face, and her eyes lit up with excitement. "You asked me to that Spruce Willis movie, remember? Let's go do that! Dinner and a movie. How does that sound?"

Jaune looked to be in a daze as he shambled along the hall after her. It was probably a good thing his hand was still in hers, otherwise he might not be able to stand at all. "That's... uh, that sounds good..."

"Great! I promise you won't regret it. We're going to have so much fun tonight, Jaune. Just you and me together. No one else getting in our way. This is going to be the best day ever!"

Bleiss turned back around as she led Jaune to the room where the detention was being held. A victorious smile spread on her lips.

Maybe Miltia had been right. Maybe something more traditionally romantic was exactly what she needed.

What could be more romantic than a night on the town for two?

* * *

One final look in the mirror told him that he was as ready as he would ever be. A voice from behind him is what finally made him look away.

"So..." the cautious voice of Pyrrha said. "You're going on a date with... Bleiss, was it?"

Jaune understood Pyrrha's caution. He understood her concern. This whole situation was just weird. It was beyond weird. It bordered on absurd.

The girl had been there the night when everything changed. Pyrrha had a front row seat to the first, and thus far only time that Bleiss had planted her lips on him. Even after explaining the situation to her later, it was still a tough pill to swallow. The concern and unease which the redhead displayed at the mention of Bleiss was enough to tell Jaune that she did not like the idea of them being alone together.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "I think it's the only way to protect Weiss. Not the ideal situation, but the only one I can think of so far."

The previous day Jaune and Weiss had made an agreement. He would attempt to appease Bleiss, if only so that she would not go running off again to do something dangerous. The idea was that if she had a chaperone, especially if it was the one person she wanted to be around, then she wouldn't do anything stupid. She wouldn't lash out in anger, nor would she let her more base desires get the better of her. Tonight would be an opportunity to test that theory out.

"And Weiss is okay with this?"

Truth be told, Jaune didn't know how Weiss would react to the idea of "them" going on a date. While it may not have been Weiss' mind that was in control right now, it was still her body. But it wasn't as if he would let anything happen to that body. He wouldn't let Bleiss do anything to compromise Weiss' virtue. Jaune was a man of his word. He was an Arc. And Arcs never went back on their word.

"I think she'd understand," he said as he looked himself up and down. The jeans and black t-shirt he wore weren't exactly the classiest of clothes, but then again it wasn't as if he was attending the opera tonight. It was dinner and a movie. Typical teenage date stuff. "So how do I look?"

His partner smiled at him. It was as forced a smile as he could ever recall the girl putting on display. "You look... lovely," she said.

Despite the uncomfortable smile on her face, Jaune knew that Pyrrha was genuine in her compliment. "Thanks." Taking out his scroll, he saw that it was six in the evening. It was nearly time to go across the hall to pick up his 'date'. He took a deep breath as he gazed back into the mirror once more. "Well, time to do this."

Stepping outside, Jaune crossed the hall over to Team RWBY's dorm. Raising a fist, he hesitated for a moment before finally knocking a few times on the door.

Indistinct noises and voices could be heard on the other side. Soon enough the door opened, and surprisingly, it was Yang who greeted him. "Hey, Jaune."

He swallowed, before nodding his own greeting. "Hey, Yang."

"Here for your date?" she asked. Despite the ominous tension which hung in the air, the smallest hint of a smirk graced her face.

"Yeah. Is... Bleiss here?"

"Oh you know she is," she said. That smirk grew just a little bit as she turned her head back into the room. "Yo, Bleiss! Your date's here!"

"I fucking know!" Jaune heard the voice of said girl shout in response. "Just gimmie a fucking minute!"

Well, this was certainly off to a pleasant start. Jaune shuffled uncomfortably in the hall as he and Yang stood there. "So..." he trailed off.

"Girls," Yang stated, as if that told the whole story. Thankfully she continued. "Bleiss has been freaking out all afternoon getting ready for this. I don't think I've ever even seen Weiss be so thorough about something before."

The statement was surprising for the boy. Bleiss seemed like a girl filled to the brim with confidence. She had an ego that was unchecked. And yet she was apparently freaking out about their simple little date tonight?

Yang turned back again to shout into the room. "Bleiss, your date is getting bored!"

He wasn't. It was just an obvious attempt from Yang to get the girl moving.

"Shut up, cunt!" Bleiss yelled in response. "I'm coming!"

Jaune hoped that the girl would not be so mouthy out in public. The last thing he wanted was for the girl to be swearing up a storm in whatever restaurant they ate at. Or in whichever theater they attended.

A hand moved to the back of his neck as Jaune looked away from the blonde girl. "I'm surprised you're so... uh, enthusiastic about this. About this date thing."

Yang smiled at him. Much like Pyrrha's it wasn't all for happy reasons. "Ruby told me about your plan," she explained. "And I get it. You gotta keep Bleiss happy so Weiss doesn't get hurt. And since that's the case, I'm all for it. Give that girl the night of her life... within reason."

Jaune nodded. That was indeed the plan. "Yeah. Right."

"And at the same time... it's weird, but it's nice to see you and Weiss going on a date." She shook her head softly. "Not Weiss exactly, but you get what I mean. I know you've been into her since we started out here at Beacon. And she's never even given you a chance. So to see Bleiss not only give you a chance, but being the one pursuing you, it's nice, I guess. Weird, but nice. Maybe Weiss herself will appreciate everything you're doing. Maybe Weiss will give you a chance someday too."

That was something Jaune had not even considered. Nor would he consider it. He wasn't doing this to get on Weiss' good side. He wasn't doing this in hopes that she would suddenly view him in a romantic light. That ship had sailed. She was clearly interested in Neptune. Jaune himself had helped facilitate their night together at Beacon's dance. As far as he was concerned, he was over Weiss. At least he was in his mind.

His heart, however, was a different story. You couldn't just force yourself to fall out of love with somebody, after all.

"Out of the way, Cow Tits," Bleiss said as Yang was forcefully shoved aside.

Then he saw her. And his jaw dropped.

Bleiss stood in the doorway in front of him looking like a completely different person compared to earlier today. Gone was the short black skirt and leather jacket. In its place was an elegant black cocktail dress which clung tightly to her petite frame. The length of it ended around the middle of her thighs, revealing gorgeous and silky-smooth legs that had been toned through years of training as a huntress. Its cut was modest, revealing only a small portion of cleavage that gave a sexy, yet classy appearance.

It wasn't only her attire which had changed. The usual sideways ponytail was gone and was instead worn up in an elegant bun, leaving just a few choice and deliberate strands to hang loose across her face. Crimson eyes sparkled like rubies set in the black steel of eyeliner that made those precious gemstones pop all the more incredibly. Passion and hunger lurked behind those windows to the soul, and Jaune knew that those desires were directed at one man, and one man alone.

All in all, she was stunning. Everything about her was amazing. Beautiful. Classy. Elegant. Not at all the foul-mouthed girl he had heard only seconds before.

Jaune suddenly felt woefully underdressed for this date. All he could do was utter a single word. "Wow."

Bleiss giggled as she took a step forward. "Like what you see?"

He did. But...

Jaune shook his head. He had to remember. This was still Weiss in there. He couldn't ever forget that.

"You look incredible," he said honestly. Genuinely. "Maybe I should put on something a little nicer too?"

She shook her head as she extended an arm for him to take. "Nah. You look fucking hot. Black shirt and jeans are classics you can't go wrong with."

And just like that the illusion of class was shattered. Still, to any passersby who could not hear her, Bleiss might as well have looked like a movie star attending a blockbuster red carpet premier.

Knowing it was what was expected in such a situation, Jaune extended his own arm and linked it around Bleiss'. With her invitation accepted, she pressed herself closer to him. Her chest squeezed against his arm, and Jaune coughed lightly at the innocent intimacy of the touch.

"Shall we go?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah. Let's do that."

Before they could take more than a few steps, however, a voice stopped them in their tracks. "Are you sure you don't want any of us to come along?" Ruby asked from the doorway. "You know... just in case?"

Bleiss turned back, the smile on her lips a sharp contrast to the words which came out of them. "Ruby, if I see you stalking me and my man tonight, I'll stab you in the eye with a rusty spoon. Okay?"

Ruby's face paled, her already fair skin somehow becoming even whiter than normal. She laughed nervously as she shrunk back into her room. "Heh, yeah. I read you loud and clear."

The smile on Bleiss' face persisted as her head turned to the other side of the hall, where Pyrrha stood in his own team's doorway looking on. Concern was still etched on the girl's face. Jaune could understand why, but at the same time, she surely had to know that Bleiss wouldn't harm him. Right?

Perhaps Bleiss thought she needed some reassurance too, judging by what she said to the other girl as they walked away. "Don't wait up, _Pyr_ ," she said all too happily as the biggest grin yet stretched across her ruby-red lips. "I'll take good care of him for you."

No more words were said as the two made their way through the dorm's halls and to the air ship station.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This is something I've forgotten to do at the time I posted the past two updates, but I remembered this time! There's another new Bleiss story on the site. Go check out **The Schnee That Shall Not Be Named** by **quijibo7609** for more Bleiss goodness. Make sure to give him all the support you can. Keep the Blackguard Movement strong!

As always my thanks go out to everyone for reading and reviewing. You're awesome.


	7. Chapter 7

The warm summer air kissed Jaune's skin as he and Bleiss disembarked from the Bullhead. Now in downtown Vale, it was time to properly begin their date.

Jaune still felt woefully underdressed for the occasion compared to Bleiss. She had gone all-out in ensuring that she looked her best. The tiny black dress hugged curves which he did not know Weiss even possessed. Her hair looked incredible up as opposed to her usual sideways ponytail. She had even donned makeup for the first time Jaune could ever recall seeing. Both Weiss and Bleiss looked stunning without the aid of cosmetics. It was taking all he had not to stare at the dark beauty who walked by his side.

Or rather, the one who clung to his side. Seeing how it was a date, Bleiss had decided that she needed to show that to the world. She needed to show everyone that they were together. He was hers. In doing so, she had linked one of her arms around his own, pressing her body up against his side. She was soft. Warm. Incredibly and impossibly so. And somehow, extremely comfortable in this public display of affection which he never could have imagined Weiss being.

She truly was a dark reflection of Weiss.

If this had been Weiss, Jaune would have wanted to impress her on this date. He would have wanted to show her the best time possible to make her want to go out with him again. However, he had no plan. This had all been thrust upon him so suddenly. He didn't know where they were going. He didn't have a restaurant picked out. The only thing he knew for certain was that they were seeing the most recent Spruce Willis movie.

As much as he felt like a hostage at the hands of Bleiss, he still wanted her to have a good time. Maybe it was just the kind of guy he was. Or maybe it was the influence of seven sisters. Whatever the case, he couldn't just sleepwalk through this date and expect to feel good about it. He knew Bleiss wouldn't feel good about it either.

Well, it was time to confess all of that and hope she understood. He looked over at the girl whose head was currently leaning against his shoulder. "Hey, Bleiss?"

"Hmm?" She didn't even look at him when she responded. A most un-Weiss-like behavior.

"I, uh, I gotta admit. I don't really know what I'm doing here. I've never been on a date before." The admission was a harsh one for the seventeen year old boy to make. But at least it was the truth. "And I didn't exactly make any plans for a restaurant or anything. In fact, I don't even know what order to do things in. Does the dinner come first or the movie? I'm sorry, I'm just-"

Jaune was quieted when a finger gently pressed against his lips. "Shh," Bleiss said, finally moving her head so she could regard him. The warm smile on her face told him she held no ill-will toward his lack of preparations. "Don't you worry your pretty little blonde head about it. I've made reservations already. Just follow my lead."

Now that he thought about it, Jaune had been doing just that. Although she was one the one clinging to him, he was just walking as she did. For all intents and purposes, Bleiss was the one who had been leading him around town. And apparently she had a plan and a destination all along. That information was comforting at least.

"Do you like Mistrali food?" she asked.

He did. It was in reality a broad topic. Mistral was such a huge continent with so many scattered settlements that the idea of a singular Mistrali culture or cuisine would be an incorrect one. There were in fact two separate and distinct cultures which were dominant. The city itself and the surrounding area had a diet which heavily relied on rice and noodle dishes. More often than not vegetables and meats were added in order to spice up the staple crops. It was from this kind of culture he knew that Ren hailed from.

But then the other scattered settlements, primarily along the coastline, was entirely different. The region that Pyrrha was from had foods which featured olives and olive products as their base, along with various cheeses and fish. Both cultures foods were delicious, and he wouldn't mind either one for tonight.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "Is that where we're going?"

"Yes. There's a wonderful little Mistrali place I read about called the Vermilion Garden. We have a seven o'clock reservation. After that we'll head over to a nearby theater that's playing our movie. I figure that unless we decide to do anything else, we should be ready to head back by around ten. Perfectly in line with Beacon's curfew policy."

Jaune had to admit that he was impressed. Bleiss had put a lot of thought into their date given only a few hours notice. Then again, it wouldn't have surprised the boy if she had thought about this long before actually getting him to agree to a date.

"But like I said, we could stay out later if you wanted to," she continued. "I know this nice club that'll give us both free drinks."

"Free drinks?" he asked, not even bothering to tell her that they were both underage. He figured that this loose cannon didn't care the slightest bit about that. Especially when she had come home drunk once already. "How'd you manage that?"

"I know the owner. Sort of. I know the owner's two adopted daughters. Fuck, I wish they went to Beacon. Outside of you, everyone else sucks."

Those words rubbed Jaune the wrong way, but he didn't want to start an argument. Not on a date. Not in public. The whole point of this date was to appease Bleiss so that her actions wouldn't affect Weiss in a negative way. So he kept his mouth shut. Words couldn't hurt his friends who hadn't heard them. Instead he merely hummed noncommittally.

"So. Tell me about yourself."

The words brought him out of his thinking. "What?"

"I want to know everything there is to know about Jaune Arc."

He was about to tell her that she already knew everything, but realized that she didn't. It was true that Bleiss knew everything that Weiss did up until the moment that their minds became separate entities. The problem was that Weiss didn't know anything about him period. She didn't care. She didn't have the same kind of relationship with him that his teammates, Ruby, or even Yang did. Weiss Schnee knew nothing about Jaune. And as a result, neither did Bleiss.

He shrugged softly. "I'm a pretty boring guy, honestly," he admitted.

"Ah ah!" she said with a stern wag of her finger. "No putting yourself down on my watch. I only date the best. And you are the best, Jaune."

Jaune couldn't help but feel a little bit warm inside. Embarrassed. He knew that he was a screw-up. Weak in comparison to the other students at Beacon. His parents didn't have a lot of faith in him. If things didn't work out, they were perfectly happy with him coming back home. Like they expected it. To hear Bleiss say that he was the best... to hear her tell him to not put himself down...

It felt nice.

"You okay?" she asked. Concern had replaced the playful smile which had previously played on her lips.

He shook his head. Thinking about himself and his parents must have caused him to frown. "Yeah. I'm fine," he lied.

"So? Tell me about you!"

He shrugged again. "There's not much to say. I've got seven sisters-"

"Seven?" she gasped. "What the fuck!"

He had never gotten that kind of reaction before. Then again, he had never met anyone quite like Bleiss. A filter between her brain and her mouth didn't exist.

His hand went up to rub the back of his neck. "Yeah. It's... it's been a pretty wild ride. Being one of the youngest in a house full of girls can be rough."

"Your mother must be a real trooper. And your dad must be fucking hot to get that kind of action." Bleiss began to look him up and down, and Jaune couldn't help but feel like he was being studied under her scrutinizing gaze. "At least I know you'll look good when you're older."

Hearing about how attractive his father was wasn't exactly what the boy wanted to hear. He didn't even mind Bleiss' wandering eyes by comparison.

"And they taught you how to treat a lady," she said, motioning down to where his arm was linked with hers. "You've got some good family, Jaune."

It wasn't exactly his choice. It had been Bleiss who grabbed hold of his arm. He merely let it happen. But if that's what she wanted to believe, he would give it to her.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I guess I do." Lack of faith in him or not, at least he could say that his family loved him. They truly cared about his happiness and well-being.

"Any funny stories?"

Too many. And not funny in a ha-ha way. Funny in a traumatizing way.

"They used to braid my hair," he said softly. Embarrassedly.

"Really?" There was barely-contained humor in her question.

"Yeah... back when we went camping. Back before I started getting my own tent, I used to have to share with a few of my sisters. They were... well, kinda forward with wanting me to be their living doll."

Bleiss laughed. It was soft and sweet, musical in a sense. Completely unlike the crude and vulgar girl she actually was.

Jaune wondered briefly if that was Weiss' laugh. If that was how she would sound when she was genuinely happy.

"And you let them?" she wondered.

"Well I was younger back then. More innocent, I guess you could say. I guess I tried to rationalize it by telling myself it wasn't a ponytail. It was a warrior's wolf tail."

Bleiss ran a hand through his long golden locks. "Aw, that's adorable," she cooed. "You're such a lovable little dork, aren't you?"

"Hey, I was like 10!"

"Wanna let me braid your hair?"

He cleared his throat softly. "Um, no. That's fine. Really."

"How about I call up your sisters and ask them for advice? Or I can just get them to come to Beacon and hold you down while we braid it. For old time's sake."

"You'd better not!"

"Or what? You'll go all warrior on me, mister warrior's wolf tail?"

Jaune laughed. She had a point. What _could_ he do if Bleiss decided she wanted a crack at his hair? Even without the aid of his sisters, she could have him at her mercy with those glyphs. The image was a surprisingly amusing one, which caused his laughter to continue.

Until he remembered where he was, and stopped. It wasn't right. He wasn't supposed to be having fun. This was Bleiss. This was the girl who was hijacking Weiss' body. Jaune was only here because he was being forced to. Sure, he was supposed to show her a good time. But that didn't mean he should be having a good time too, right?

"Fine, fine," she laughed. "Any other girly things? Cooking? Sewing?" Her eyes lit up with sudden realization. "Shit, I just remembered you could dance! That was them, wasn't it?"

She had nailed it. "Yeah. A few of them took dance classes. So when they got home and needed a partner for practice, guess who they went to?"

"Ever the gentleman," she smiled, her hand moving to grasp his own as they walked. She gave it a soft squeeze, and Jaune couldn't help but feel the positivity which came with the gesture. "You need to give me a dance someday."

He wanted to point out that there wouldn't be another dance until next year, but bringing that up might just prompt the girl to suggest they simply go to another venue. Like that nightclub she had been talking about earlier.

Moving quickly to avoid such a suggestion, Jaune changed the subject. "So enough about me. What about you and your family?"

All Jaune really knew about Weiss' family was what was in the public eye. She was the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. That was it. But even that information had only been introduced to him after meeting her. At the time of their introduction on their first day attending Beacon, he had simply thought that Weiss was just another girl. A particularly beautiful girl, but just an average person like Ruby or Yang or anyone else.

"What about my family?" Bleiss asked. There was a certain bitterness in her voice with the question.

Even Jaune was smart enough to see that he had just stepped on a landmine. "I'm sorry. If it's a bad subject we don't need to talk about it."

"What's there to talk about?" she snapped. "My dad's a piece of shit. My mom's a drunk. My younger brother's a little shit who takes after my dad. That's why I call him Shitley." Jaune had no idea what her brother's name was to begin with, so he couldn't say if that was some sort of play on words. "The only one who actually gives a damn about me is my older sister Winter."

Jaune felt awful for bringing this up. He had no idea that Weiss, and by extension Bleiss' family was so... dysfunctional. "I'm sorry," he repeated.

"Oh that's right, Winter loves Weiss," she continued. "She doesn't even know I exist. And you know what? If she finds out about this, she'll probably do whatever it took to erase me from existence. The one person in my life... in Weiss' life, who truly cares about her would try to make me disappear. They all would. I don't have a fucking family."

This date had taken a suddenly real turn. And Jaune didn't know what to think or do about it. Because in reality, who was Bleiss? What was Bleiss? She was some sort of side effect of a dust potion, right? That was the working theory. In reality, Jaune had no idea. He wondered if Bleiss felt this way too.

"But I have you," she said more softly. Her tone had turned somber. She gripped hold of his arm tightly, as if she would float away if she dared let go. "No matter what happens, I have you. I don't know why, but for some reason when I'm around you I feel better. I just... I _know_ that you care about me. Even if you run away. Even if you push me back. I just know that Jaune Arc loves me."

He didn't know what to say. What could he say to such a vulnerable expression of emotion? How could he react to the girl saying that no one in her life cared for her except for him? The stress and pressure she had just put on him now was something he could never have prepared for.

He was thankful that she wasn't looking at him right now. The worry and conflict that must have been on his face would undoubtedly not look good. But still, he couldn't just be silent, could he?

"I... I don't know what to say to all of that," he admitted. "I'm sorry I'm not good at this sort of thing."

He felt her head shake as it rested on his shoulder. "You don't need to say anything. Just being here with you is all I need. Fuck," she breathed softly. "I'm sorry. I'm fucking ruining our date with all this sad shit. Great job, Bleiss."

Despite his only crime having been asking about her family, Jaune felt awful. His question had caused this. But even if it hadn't, he had too much empathy to not feel bad about how Bleiss was feeling right now. What kind of man would he be if he simply turned a blind eye to her pain?

Originally he had not wanted to be the one escalate any sort of physical affection when it came to Bleiss. His policy had been to appease her, but not let her go too far. But this... this was different. This was a girl in obvious pain. He knew there was a simple yet effective way to alleviate it. At least based on everything she had just said.

Jaune pulled and tugged his arm to free it from Bleiss grasp. At first she looked up at him, her crimson eyes filled with betrayal at his actions. Those same eyes then widened in shock as he moved his now free arm around her torso and pulled her close to him. Her body pressed up tightly against him as his hand rested on her hip. It took her a moment to recover from her shock, but Bleiss nestled her head against him as her own arm wrapped around his body as well. She sighed in contentment as they neared the restaurant.

To any outsider, it did indeed look as if a pair of lovers were out enjoying a date on a Saturday evening.

* * *

Dinner had been delicious. Bleiss had made an excellent call with that restaurant. And surprisingly, the conversation had been excellent as well.

Making a concerted to move away from the negative conversation they had earlier, Jaune attempted to find out more about the girl Bleiss, rather than her family. Rather than even Weiss herself. He recognized the fact that Bleiss saw herself as her own separate and unique personality. With how she behaved, it wasn't much of a stretch.

The pair of teens made their way to the theater now, and Jaune was determined to play his rightful part on the date. Both his father and sisters had taught him that proper courtship of a lady meant that he would pay for things, however Bleiss had insisted on paying for dinner. Armed with her, or rather Weiss' credit card, she had taken care of the bill. The least Jaune could do now was use his own meager savings to buy the movie tickets.

He did that before Bleiss had a chance to protest. Securing two tickets for the movie, he handed one to his date before opening the door for her to step inside.

"You didn't have to do that," she told him.

He didn't. But etiquette dictated that he must. "It's no problem," he answered. "I'm taking _you_ out on a date, remember?"

The girl smiled. "You dumbass," she said playfully. "I'm fucking rich, remember? I could buy out this whole theater to give us the privacy we deserve." Her hand brushed up against his arm, sending shivers down his spine. "If that's what you desire, that is..."

He did. He absolutely did. And that's exactly why he had to stop himself and focus on the reality of the situation. _No!_ his mind chastised. _This is Weiss. This is Weiss. Do. Not. Accept._

While he didn't stop her suggestive motions, he didn't let them go any further either. "No, that's okay," he managed to squeak out. "Let's, uh, just get to our seats."

The benefit of dinner before the movie meant that neither were hungry enough to buy any snacks for the show. With only a few minutes to spare, the two entered the screening room and found a pair of good seats.

In the darkness, Jaune was finally alone with his thoughts. Staring at the screen as the movie began to play, he could finally think. This was insanity. It was the only way to describe it. He was out on a date with a beautiful girl who only a few weeks ago he had been desperately trying to woo into attending a school dance with him. And now he was all but treating her like a pariah. Like a virus to be avoided. A bully who had to be appeased lest she take out her wrath on an innocent victim.

That victim being the girl he truly loved. Or at least had. Before the dance. Before Neptune. Before he had finally gotten it through his thick skull that she did not feel the same way about him.

So he had moved on. Jaune had cast aside any thought of ever dating Weiss. Why bother anymore? Wishing and wanting would only bring him heartache. His ridiculous attempts to court her would only annoy her. Besides, she had found a boy she truly did like. It was best to just do his part to allow them to be happy together, and that was exactly what he had done.

And now this. By some cruel twist of fate, the girl who he had been head over heels for had changed and developed feelings for him. Only it wasn't her. It was someone new. Someone who was no less beautiful, no less fun, no less amazing, and yet, someone so completely different. And she loved him with all her heart.

The catch? She wasn't real. She inhabited the original girl's body. And that meant that even if he did like her in return, a relationship with Bleiss was absolutely off-limits.

Life was cruel. It was the only way to describe it. He had been given everything he had ever wanted. The only problem was that if he took it, he would be an irredeemable monster. Jaune knew right from wrong. He could never take what this girl was offering him. He could never take advantage of Weiss.

A soft noise from his side stirred him from his thoughts, and looking over he saw that Bleiss was stretching. And when her arms came back down, one had fallen around his shoulders. She had just used the oldest trick in the book on him. Pretending to yawn and stretch in order to get closer to him. It was unbelievably adorable and innocent. Jaune had no idea people still did that. Least of all women.

Seeing or hearing no protests, Bleiss must have assumed that he was fine with her action and moved even closer to him. Just like when they had been walking, she rested her head against his shoulder as the two sat watching the movie. And it was everything he had ever hoped it would be. Sitting there on a date with an amazing and beautiful girl, cuddling with her as they watched a movie together.

Was this perhaps what Weiss would be like if she showed him affection? Is this what a date with her would have been like?

In an instant Jaune shook his head, casting such thoughts from his mind. No. He would not think about Weiss right now. That would be a disservice to the girl who actually _was_ out with him right now. Weiss wasn't interested in him. She didn't want to go out on a date with him. But Bleiss did. For whatever reason, Bleiss wanted to be here. And that counted for something.

His head shook again. _No. Stop enjoying this._ His mind refused to stop battling with his heart. This wasn't right. None of it was. It was still Weiss' body. He could not let himself be fooled. The warm and loving girl next to him was nothing but a side-effect. She wasn't real. Her feelings for him weren't real. All of this was just a painful illusion which he could never act on.

The minutes passed by torturously slow, and Jaune couldn't help not focusing on the movie. How could he when all that he could think about was the problem of Bleiss and Weiss? How was he supposed to go on doing this? It was like teasing a dog with a treat that you would never give them. Bleiss was an all too tempting treat for the teenage boy that was too painful to even contemplate. She was everything he wanted, just out of reach.

A sudden jolt next to him once more stirred him from his thoughts. But it was the whisper that made him look. "Jaune."

Turning to see what his date wanted, Jaune's eyes went wide when they saw the last thing he had expected. Even in the darkness of the theater he could see that Bleiss' hair had gone white. And that could only mean one thing.

Weiss grabbed hold of his wriest, tugging on it and urging him to stand up as she did. Jaune moved quickly to follow her, and the two teens exited the aisle of seats before making their way up the ramp and out of the theater.

In the brightness of the lobby lights Jaune could see that Weiss was panicked. He couldn't imagine what was going through her head right now. He had no idea what she had been doing last, but to suddenly wake up in a dark room cuddling a stranger had to be terrifying. He was thankful she had not screamed or made any kind of scene. The girl's courage and willpower were far beyond anything he could ever hope to achieve.

It still did not stop her from being scared, however. She merely hid it better than most. Away in a secluded corner of the lobby, Weiss finally spoke again. "What's going on?" she asked. "Where are we? What were we doing?"

Right. Weiss would have been completely unaware of their date. Everything which had and was taking place had occurred today.

The best thing to do was to start from the beginning. "You had detention today," he explained. "But you weren't going to go. The only way Bleiss agreed to go was if... if we went on a date."

"And you agreed?"

"I didn't want you to get in any more trouble." It sounded like a fairly weak excuse now that he said it aloud. To the girl who was his date. "I wasn't going to let anything happen. It was just a way to make her happy so she wouldn't do anything else harmful to you."

Weiss moved a hand like she wanted to run it through her hair, only to stop when she realized there wasn't much hair to do the act with. Feeling around the top of her head, she realized that her hair was being worn up for the occasion. Her focus soon turned back to him. "So your idea of appeasing Bleiss was to take her out on a date," she reiterated. "Cuddling with her at a movie theater. You didn't kiss me again, did you?"

The accusation stung, especially because it had been Bleiss who had kissed _him_. Still, he was not about to hold it against Weiss. She was rightfully and justifiably freaked out right now. "No. Never. I would never do anything to take advantage of you."

Her hand and fingers moved to rub her eyes. When they moved once more Weiss stared down at the black smudges now on the tips of her fingers. "I know, Jaune. I know." Her tone had softened now. Perhaps the initial shock had worn off. "I'm just..."

Tired? Afraid? Confused? There were all kinds of words which Weiss might have wanted to say which would perfectly describe their current situation. He would not press her for which one it was, however. All he could do was offer up what little support he could.

"I know," he said comfortingly. "I'm sorry. Nothing happened though. And I wouldn't let anything happen. But if this kind of thing is off-limits, just let me know and it won't happen again."

Weiss took a deep breath and sighed. "It's fine. I just need to collect myself right now. Excuse me for a moment."

Jaune nodded as he watched Weiss walk to the lady's room.

Moving back against one of the walls, Jaune leaned against it and gave a sigh of his own. What a disaster. This whole experience with Bleiss was nothing short of a disaster. For him. But especially for Weiss. He hoped that she would be okay.

* * *

Staring into the mirror behind the sinks, Weiss could hardly recognize herself. Normally the girl never wore makeup. Her own natural beauty could outshine even the most expensive and elaborate decoration that other girls used to doctor up their own looks. But now she was looking back at a girl who had masterfully applied makeup to her already perfect face. She had to admit that it looked good.

Ruby-red lipstick brought out her full lips. Black eyeliner and eyeshadow made her sapphire eyes pop out with the sharp contrast of colors. Interestingly enough, Bleiss had made no attempt to conceal the scar that went down the left side of her face. Perhaps Bleiss recognized it for what it was just as she herself did. A badge of honor. The price of freedom. A reminder that she would never be a slave again.

Only she was a slave. A slave to herself. To that other girl who took control from time to time. The harsh reality of the situation was enough to almost make her long for her old prison. At least back in Atlas, back at home with father, she was awake and conscious at all times. Here though, her lack of control was terrifying. She had just woken up to a date with Jaune, and she had no idea how or when it had even happened.

Weiss' hand reached up to once more touch the elaborate bun which her hair was in. With her own snow-white hair, it nearly resembled the style which Winter wore her own. If nothing else, Bleiss had good taste when it came to style.

A look down at the dress she wore confirmed that. It was something which Weiss herself would have never been brave enough to wear on her own. However, that did not change the fact that it was a beautiful little black number that accentuated her form perfectly. She was a small and petite young woman, admittedly lacking upstairs when it came to those... assets. However, the dress played to her strengths. It clung to her body, showing just how slim and slender her stomach and waist were. Turning to the side, Weiss also saw how it did wonders to show off her legs and backside, two things she did have over other girls like Yang and Blake. Unwelcome nuisance or not, Bleiss had chosen her attire well. This dress was a keeper... for some point in the future.

It had taken a few minutes of breathing exercises, but Weiss finally felt as though she had composed herself enough to be seen in public once more. To be seen by Jaune once more. What would he think? How would he react? Did it even matter?

Weiss shook her head. She needed to apologize to him. This wasn't his fault, after all. Weiss herself wasn't the only one being held hostage here by her dark reflection. For some reason Bleiss was infatuated with Jaune. This could not be an easy spot for him to be in. He had to go along with whatever crazy schemes she wanted, or else he knew that she would do something foolish. Something that would harm her body's true owner. Jaune would never stand by and let her be harmed.

Exiting the washroom, Weiss made her way back over to the boy who stood uncomfortably against the wall. She did her best to flash him a small smile, which was returned to her in just such a manner.

"Jaune," she started. "Please accept my apology for snapping at you. The position which Bleiss put you in could not have been an easy one, and you reacted to the best of your ability in accordance to our plan. It was not right of me to accuse you of any foul play. I'm sorry."

Jaune shook his head. "There's nothing to apologize for. You were scared. I couldn't imagine what it's like to just suddenly wake up in a strange place not knowing what's going on. If anything you handled it better than anyone else would have."

His words were warm and comforting. However, she was not about to cast her own blame aside because she had been scared. Schnees took responsibility for their actions. "Regardless, I am sorry. And I appreciate you thinking of my well-being when it came to attending Professor Port's detention. The last thing I need is to continue to get on his bad side due to Bleiss' behavior."

The boy shrugged. "Yeah. It's no problem. I mean, what else am I gonna do on a Saturday night? At least I finally got to go on a date!"

The self-deprecating humor had probably been meant to defuse the situation. But in reality, it hurt. There was a somber truth to his words. This had been Jaune's first date. Forced upon him by the girl who had hijacked her body. Jaune's first date had been stolen from him much like Weiss' own first kiss had been stolen from her days earlier.

And at the same time, this was Weiss' own first date in a weird sort of way. Despite not being conscious at the time, this was her body's first date. Sure, she had been to all kinds of events and balls back home in Atlas. She had danced with boys before. However, none of that had ever been a proper date with the intent to court another. None of those boys had ever stirred any kind of romantic interest from her whatsoever. Those were not dates. Those were business meetings. Social gatherings. Not... not dinner and a show with a boy.

"Come on," she urged with a slight nod of her head. "Let's go back to Beacon. We'll talk on the way."

Weiss was in fact curious about just how her first date had gone. She wondered if they had eaten before the movie. If so, what? What had she ordered? Did they had a good time? Would there be any sort of memory of the date in the form of pictures taken on a scroll? Or would her only memory be of her waking up cuddled next to Jaune in a dark movie theater?

Stepping out into the night, Weiss was silent for the first few minutes. There was so much to consider. She had to think about her phrasing. She didn't want to seem overly eager to learn about the experience, but at the same time she could not downplay tonight to herself. This was huge. This was important. This was a date with a boy. Not even Neptune had asked her out on a date yet. Not that they were in fact a couple. All they had done was attend the dance together. And even then, it had only happened because of Jaune's intervention. Jaune had been looking out for her even before Bleiss had ever come into existence.

The realization made her body warm, yet sent paradoxically cold chills down her spine.

She finally forced herself to speak in order to cast such confusing thoughts from her mind. "Did we have fun tonight?"

Jaune looked back down at her with a slight frown. "Is that the weird kind of 'we' where you're referring to just me in a condescending way?"

It took her a moment to realize what he meant. Yes, it could indeed be interpreted like that. Especially from her. "No. I meant the actual 'we'. Or rather, you and Bleiss. Did the two of you have a good time tonight?"

The way Jaune's face soured momentarily spoke volumes. It also contradicted what came next. "Yeah. We did."

Weiss' eyes narrowed as she looked at Jaune's face. How he refused to make eye contact with her. Was he embarrassed? Ashamed? Had something happened that he didn't want to talk about? If their date had been going well prior to her taking back control of her body, why was he uncomfortable?

Perhaps pressing for more information could yield results. "What did you two do tonight?"

"Well, after serving your detention, there was a couple hours to spare. I assume that's when she got ready and made the dinner reservations. Ever hear of a place called the Vermilion Garden?"

She had not. But it sounded classy enough. "No. Was it good?"

"Yeah. Mistrali food. You... she... got some kind of rice dish. She nearly went insane when she saw that it was served with this sauce called 'garum' or something."

Weiss knew it well. The fermented fish sauce was a condiment used on all kinds of meals back in Atlas. Fish had long been the primary source of meat for the continent, stretching back to a time where the early inhabitants had to rely on the sea to survive due to the lack of farmable land. Even today where there were bio-domes which could support crops and livestock, seafood was firmly ingrained into the minds and taste buds of the people of Solitas.

"I see." It seemed that Bleiss' similar taste was not limited to just style. They had similar preferences when it came to food as well. It briefly made Weiss wonder just how different the girl actually was from her. "Can I ask you something?"

He smiled. "You just did."

Weiss blinked, before shooting a soft breath from her nose. "Oh shut up. You know what I meant."

"Yeah. Ask away."

She didn't know what kind of answer she was expecting to get, or why she was even bothering to ask. But it was simply something she wanted to know. "In the end, was tonight everything you had ever hoped it would be? If I had said yes to your advances back then?"

Once more Jaune broke eye contact. It was indeed a personal and uncomfortable question, so Weiss could understand his reaction. The boy was staring down at the sidewalk when he responded. "No."

Weiss was surprised by the answer, despite not knowing what kind she had wanted to begin with. "Why not?"

"Because..." he shook his head slightly. "It wasn't you. She's not you, and you're not her. I know it sounds crazy, because this whole situation is. But I can't help but feel that you're two entirely different people now. Bleiss isn't just you with black hair and red eyes. So I wasn't going out on a date with Weiss Schnee. I was going with her."

She didn't know why his answer stung so much. But in a way he was right. She had not been present tonight up until her return in the movie theater. Whatever fun Jaune had tonight had been with her other half. Not her.

"I see," she said neutrally. Thankfully they were nearly back to the air ship station. Afterward it would be a short Bullhead ride to Beacon, and they could separate for the night. She would have time alone with her thoughts. She would be able to ponder what Jaune's words meant.

It hadn't been her intention, but her question had killed the mood. There was no further discussion about the date. There had been no further discussion period. The only other words Jaune had spoken was his excuse for sitting away from Weiss. He didn't want to risk his motion sickness acting up and getting any of its... effects on her beautiful dress. She sincerely hoped this was the case, and he wasn't just using it as an excuse to sit away from her. Since when did Jaune have motion sickness anyway?

Finally having made it back to Beacon grounds, the two approached the dormitory together. She knew that her team would be up waiting for her with a slew of questions. Or rather, they would be waiting for Bleiss. It would likely come as quite a shock when their white-haired teammate returned. That would just prompt a whole new series of questions. She didn't want to face them, but she knew she had to. She had faced far worse in her life.

Weiss turned to face her date. "Thank you for escorting me tonight," she said genuinely. And she truly was thankful. The last time Bleiss had gone out unchecked she had woken up with a hangover. "I... appreciate the fact that you care for my wellbeing. And that you respect me so much to inconvenience yourself in such a manner."

Jaune nodded, his teeth softly digging in to his lower lip before he spoke. "Yeah. I'd do anything for a friend."

A friend. Is that really what they were now? After all their past drama. After all the horrible things she had said to him. Did he really still want to be her friend?

A simple thought to the school dance was all she needed to confirm the thought. Yes. They were friends. Even Neptune had seen that and pointed it out to her. _You've got some good friends looking out for you._

Yes. They were indeed friends. Jaune's behavior during this whole Bleiss debacle was only further proof of that. "I'm glad you had a good time. I hope that Bleiss did as well, and that it sates her... desires for the near future."

Normally this would be the part of the date where the pair would kiss before going their separate ways. However, there would be no such gesture tonight. They both knew that. Weiss wondered if Bleiss would have been expecting one had she still been in control.

"I hope so too." He nodded uncomfortably. "So... I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

Weiss nodded in return. "Yes. Tomorrow."

They were about to part when Weiss was suddenly stopped in her tracks. A large and brilliant white glyph had appeared on the ground. Spinning wildly, Weiss recognized it for what it was, and her eyes widened.

"No..." she gasped.

"Weiss? What's wrong?"

Everything. It took all of her energy and focus to her Semblance in order to snuff the glyph out. She did so successfully, but the fact that it had appeared there on her own was a problem which could not be erased so easily.

"Weiss!" Jaune repeated, finally shaking the girl back to reality. "What was that? What happened?"

"Nothing," she lied. "Just a glyph I accidentally summoned."

To Jaune it was just indeed a glyph. They all probably looked alike to him. What he didn't know was that each one had its specific purpose. Each could perform a unique task. This one, however, was one that he, nor anybody in Beacon had ever seen. It was one she had not called upon here at the school.

It was a summoning glyph.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Special thanks go out to **Random O' Panda** for suggesting "Vermilion Garden" for the name of the restaurant. For more Vermilion Garden goodness, you should check out his fic **One New Message**. What a smooth plug. I'm too good.

As always, I want to thank you all for your continued support. I hope you're all enjoying reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it.


	8. Chapter 8

_Dear Bleiss,_

 _As I sit here looking down at those two words, I can scarcely believe that I am writing this letter. A part of my still does not want to believe that you are real. However, after everything that has happened, and after every unusual situation I have found myself in due to circumstances not in my control, I have no choice in believing that you are real. You are indeed a part of me._

 _If we are to co-exist peacefully, I would like to know more about you. What kind of things interest you? What are your goals when you are in control of our body? Perhaps most importantly, what are your intentions with Jaune Arc, and why? I simply cannot understand the interest you have for him, and I would like to know more about what you see in him, and why you are willing to go to such extreme lengths to win him over._

 _Finally, I have one more question that has been eating away at me since the incident occurred. Following your date with Jaune, after I took control, a summoning glyph appeared on the ground next to us. Was that you? Were you somehow able to conjure it even after you slipped back into unconsciousness? And if so, does this mean you are proficient in summoning? If you truly are another side of me, then you should know how much difficulty I have had in that aspect of my Semblance. Are you able to summon? If so, how?_

 _I look forward to reading your response. Although I can imagine that this situation is not ideal for you, just as it is not with me, I feel that both of our lives will be made better and easier if we are able to understand one another._

 _Weiss_

* * *

Weiss sighed as she looked down at the letter she had just written. Desire to co-exist or not, the reality of her new life was still stressful. The unpredictability of each day was taking its toll on the girl. She was happy that it was Sunday, and that today she could simply relax. After coming home from "her" date with Jaune the previous night, she had been unable to sleep. For a number of different reasons.

The first had been expected. Yang and Ruby had pestered her about the evening. They had been surprised to see that it was she, rather than Bleiss who returned to the dorm. Truth be told, she had been unable to answer most of their questions about the date itself. All Weiss knew was what had happened after she had woken up in the darkness of the movie theater. All she could remember was the conversation she had with Jaune.

 _I wasn't going out on a date with Weiss Schnee. I was going with her._

That was the other thing that had kept her mind occupied last night. Those words bothered her. Not out of jealousy. She had rejected Jaune in the past, and she wasn't about to start getting hung up over the fact that he had apparently gotten over her. No, it was the acknowledgment of Bleiss as her own separate being that was troublesome. Weiss acknowledged Bleiss, but believed her to still be just another part of her. In her mind, Bleiss was still an aspect of her own personality. But not to Jaune. Last night he had gone out with Bleiss. Not another facet of Weiss' mind.

A knock on the door brought her focus back to reality. It was Yang who got up and went over to the door. Weiss briefly wondered who it could be. Maybe one of their friends from across the hall wanting to do something today?

A curious noise of uncertainty slipped from Yang's lips before she spoke. "Uh, Weiss? There's a bigger you at the door."

Weiss frowned before standing up, wondering just what in the world Yang could be talking about. She took only a few steps before getting a glimpse over the blonde girl's shoulder.

And froze.

"W-Winter?" she stuttered. "What are you doing here?"

Yang looked back at Weiss before turning back to Winter. "That's your sister? Oh shi-"

"Winter, how wonderful to see you," Weiss said quickly, accompanied by a small curtsy. Her recovery was nearly instantaneous. It had to be if she was to prevent Yang from uttering a curse word in front of her sister. "To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

"Did she just bow?" Ruby asked softly.

Weiss ignored her partner's question. She clearly did not understand proper Atlesian etiquette. "Please, come in," she insisted as she barged past Yang, making a path for her sister to enter.

"Thank you, Weiss," Winter said graciously. "However, I do believe it would be better if the two of us were to speak together in private. Come, walk with me."

Not needing to be told twice, Weiss nodded in acknowledgement. "Of course."

Without a word or even a look back at the rest of her team, Weiss slipped out the door after Winter.

The pair walked down the hall, Winter's hands clasped behind her back without saying a word. Weiss imitated the posture as well. She waited patiently for her sister to begin the conversation, as she had been the one who called for it. Perhaps she was simply waiting to be out of the dormitory where certain ears might have been able to hear them easier.

Weiss' theory was all but confirmed as they stepped outside, and the bright rays of the morning sun hit her face. It was times like these she wished she owned a fashionable hat or parasol.

"You look well, Weiss," Winter commented as they walked about the courtyard.

Weiss nodded in appreciation. Winter need not know how unwell she actually felt. "Thank you, Winter. You do as well."

The elder sister hummed an acknowledgment. "I must confess that I had feared the worst. It was a relief to see that everything is quite normal."

A frown formed on Weiss' lips, and she was careful not to turn toward Winter until she had cast the expression from her face. "What do you mean?"

"Father requested that I come to Beacon Academy in order to take you back home to Atlas." The soft gasp which came from Weiss betrayed the fear which came with such words. "Naturally I declined, much to his chagrin. However, my curiosity was piqued by his frantic insistence of body mutilation and drug use. You can imagine my relief when I saw that all was well and normal with my dear little sister."

Drugs? Body mutilation? Just what was going on in their father's mind to make him sling around such accusations?

And then it hit her. She knew exactly what it could have been. Or rather, who it could have been. Yes, there was one person she knew who would show no respect to her father. One who would give her an altered appearance. One who behaved in such a manner that she might as well have been on drugs.

"I see," Weiss said, working hard to keep the panic inside her from reaching the surface. Yes, this was the handiwork of Bleiss. There was no other explanation.

"With that being the case, I do have a couple of days to spend here in Vale," Winter continued. "Since there are no issues to deal with, I thought that the two of us could spend some time together. That is, if you have no other plans for today."

Plans? Forget any plans she might have had. Winter was here! And that means they could spend the entire day together. A whole day of just the two of them bonding, reconnecting, and sharing all of the new and wonderful experiences each had in their respective lives. This was a dream come true. This was-

Bleiss...

A chilling thought invaded Weiss' mind. Bleiss. She was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. If she were to return while Winter was present, it would be a disaster. Worse than a disaster. A catastrophe? Was that in fact worse than a disaster? She didn't know. She didn't care. All that mattered was that such a turn of events might as well have been the end of the world for Weiss. And her life here at Beacon Academy.

"That's very thoughtful of you," Weiss managed to squeeze out. "However, please do no inconvenience yourself on my behalf. If you need to return to your duties in Atlas, I would feel beyond ashamed to keep you from them."

Winter held up a hand. "I appreciate your concern, however I have taken a couple days of leave from my duties in the military in order to come here. I have all the free time in the world."

Weiss silently cursed. Normally this would be the best possible scenario. However, right now it was the worst. This was just another example of Bleiss managing to ruin everything. And when it came to personal time between her and Winter, nothing was more precious to the girl.

"I see," the girl managed to say neutrally. "That's... wonderful news." She only wished the words could have sounded more genuine.

"Originally I had planned on a short visit during the Vytal Festival, but seeing how I would have still been on official military business, our time would have been cut short. As it turns out, father's misunderstanding is our gain. Wouldn't you agree?"

Weiss paled at the mention of the Vytal Festival. The tournament. It was coming, and soon. Only a few weeks away, in fact. What if she wasn't cured by then? What if Bleiss was still around? What if she showed up during the tournament?

She could hardly imagine the embarrassment which would come with such a thing. Would Bleiss crudely and unashamedly confess her undying love for Jaune in front of a live, international audience? Worse still, what if by the luck of the draw she was forced to face off against Jaune's team? Would Bleiss do something provocative in public? Attempt to kiss him? Or worse? That couldn't happen. She had to end this.

And with Winter being here right now, she had to end it immediately.

"Yes," Weiss agreed. "Of course."

The slight narrowing of Winter's own icy blue eyes made Weiss shiver. "Weiss, are you feeling okay?"

No. Not in the slightest. However, Winter could never know why. "I am," she lied. She hated lying to Winter. But... there was nothing else she could do right now. "Thank you for asking."

The look persisted for a few seconds longer. Winter did not look convinced. Of course she wouldn't be. She was a true huntress. An Atlesian Specialist. Why would she buy the excuses of her younger sister who couldn't even keep her own mind and body under control?

But to her surprise, Winter seemed to accept her reply. "Very well. Come. What do you wish to do first?"

Weiss swallowed hard. What indeed? What could they possibly do right now with the looming threat of Bleiss hanging over their heads? If only there was some way to deter or delay the alternate personality. A way to appease her so that she wouldn't come. At least not until Winter had gone.

And then she stopped. A horrible idea came to her mind.

"First let us return to my dorm," Weiss said. "I wish for you to meet my teammates and friends."

Winter nodded. "A fine idea. I wish to meet this partner you have spoken so much about in your letters."

"Indeed. Ruby is quite... something."

As the sisters walked back toward the dormitory, Winter never could have suspected Weiss' true purpose for returning there.

"So, how have you been?" Winter continued, making small talk as they walked back to the dorms. "Now that father's misconception has been cleared up, I wish to know all about what you've been up to here at Beacon."

Where did she even begin? Where _could_ she even begin? Bleiss or not, there were still a number of things that Weiss wasn't sure she should tell her dear sister.

Did she dare talk about the fact that one of her teammates was an ex-White Fang terrorist? Did she talk about how she and her team battled against Roman Torchwick in a stolen Atlesian Paladin? Or how about her crush on Neptune Vasilias, him turning her down for the dance, and then Jaune correcting the issue? Weiss wouldn't have been surprised if Winter decided to go over and choke the life out of the exchange student for daring to reject her.

And if that were the case, what might she do to Jaune, the boy who had come to her rescue the night of the dance?

She shook her head, lest she give any sort of subconscious motivation for Bleiss to rear her ugly head. "School activities consume much of my time," Weiss explained. "Between attending classes, training, and studying, there's not a lot of time to remain idle. I prefer it that way to be honest."

"Agreed. An idle mind and hands are dangerous tools. I am pleased that you agree."

Dangerous. Weiss had found that out the hard way. It seemed as if Bleiss had nothing but time on her hands to get into all kinds of trouble.

As they neared her team's room, Weiss came to a decision. One which she never thought she would make. However, she was desperate. She needed a way out. At least for the immediate future. At least for the next couple of days.

She had no idea if it would work or not. But it was worth a shot.

Unlocking the door with her scroll, Weiss turned back to Winter. "Would you excuse me for a moment?" she asked, opening the door. "My teammates are inside, and are all quite eager to meet you. There's simply something I must do which will take only a moment."

Winter eyed her cautiously for a few seconds before the slight tilt of her head indicated agreement. "Very well. It should be interesting to speak with your friends without your presence. I wonder what candid details they might reveal."

Weiss bit down on her lower lip. Normally that might be a concern. Her friend's lack of proper etiquette or filters might result in some dirty little secret being dropped. However, she was confident that the biggest and most troubling of her issues would remain a secret. There was no way Ruby or anyone else would betray the secret of Bleiss.

She laughed nervously. "Oh, Winter. You're such a joker. Surely there's nothing I'm hiding which is too terrible."

Her sister's face remained even. "We shall see."

Winter turned and pushed the door to Team RWBY's room open. It shut a couple seconds later, leaving Weiss alone to carry out her new, bold, and insane plan.

* * *

The knocking on the door was frantic. Jaune wondered who it could be. Maybe Ruby, having just gotten some new video game? He certainly couldn't think of anyone else who might be so eager to see him or anyone else on his team.

He stood up, looking back at his teammates as he approached the door. "You guys expecting anyone?"

Both Pyrrha and Ren shook their heads. "Nope," Nora replied. "But whoever it is, it sounds pretty important."

Jaune could agree with that. Reaching out he pulled the door open, and to his surprise it was the last person who he would have expected to be behaving in such a manner. "Weiss?"

"Jaune. Come with me."

The force in her voice wasn't unusual. However, the tone of desperation was. Warning bells immediately began to go off inside his head. "What's wrong?"

The girl shook her head briefly before looking back up into his eyes. "Just come with me." She lashed out with her hand which latched onto his wrist. "Now."

The strength in her diminutive body wouldn't have been enough to pull him on its own, so Jaune let himself be dragged out of his room by her. A part of him had expected to be led into Team RWBY's own room, but to his surprise that door was shut. Instead Weiss turned left, and as fast as her legs could take her, she brought him down to the end of the hallway where there was a dead end, and a small alcove which housed a single vending machine for drinks.

Pressed next to the machine, Jaune saw that they were pretty much out of sight to anyone else who was in the hall. It was the perfect spot for privacy. The only question now was, what for?

Looking down at the girl, he saw how she refused to meet his eyes. The nervousness emanating from her was palpable. Something was wrong. Was it Bleiss? Did she do something awful he didn't know about? Immediately his concern for the girl rose, and prompted him to speak.

"Weiss," he said softly. Gently. Trying not to render the private location useless. "What's wrong?"

His tiny hands squeezed into fists momentarily before she finally looked up at him. Hard blue eyes hid anxiety behind them. "My sister's here."

Sister. Winter. The girl who Bleiss had spoken of on their date. The one member of her family who loved and treasured Weiss.

"That's great. Right?"

Weiss shook her head softly. "Normally, yes. However... she cannot be allowed to know of Bleiss' existence."

That made sense. It would probably be a disturbing turn of events to see that your beloved little sister was suffering through this sort of experience. Who knows what anyone in her family might do should they learn the existence of a rogue personality?

And then Jaune remembered Bleiss' own point of view. Even Winter, the one person in "her" life who loved and cared about her, would want to see her purged. Bleiss would be destroyed in order for Weiss to regain control of her mind and her life. And if Jaune was being honest, that made rational sense. It was Weiss' mind. Weiss' body. Weiss' life. But at the same time...

He couldn't help but feel Bleiss was a separate and real entity of her own. She had her own thoughts. Goals. Dreams. Fears. Wants. She had her own consciousness. Was she really any less of a person than he was?

In any case, Jaune agreed that Weiss' plan was a good one. To protect her. To protect Bleiss. "Okay. So what do we do?"

"We have to... we have to ensure that Bleiss does not appear in the next two days. Until Winter returns to Atlas."

That seemed simple enough. A sudden realization struck Jaune. "Wait, so does that mean you've figured out how to control her?"

Weiss looked away. She bit down on her lip for a moment before replying. "Not exactly. But... I have a theory."

"A theory? What is it?"

Her eyes remained locked on anything and everything that were not his own. He could absolutely understand her discomfort in this moment. But to be so nervous around him? What had changed since the previous evening? Certainly she knew that he would never do anything harmful or anything that would take advantage of her, right?

"Last night," she said. "At the end of the date. I was thinking about, well, date things." Her voice was soft. Embarrassed. Like it was distressing to even be uttering these words. So far they seemed innocent enough to Jaune. "And then the glyph. So I wondered if maybe the two..."

Her explanation had started off well enough, but now it had descended into incoherent babbling. "Weiss? You're not making sense."

Her face twisted with anger, but she still refused to meet his gaze. "I'm getting to that!" she snapped. Almost immediately after the anger dissipated, and the girl shook her head softly. "The thing couples do at the end of the night. And the thought... maybe it made her want to come out again..."

It was a little better, but she still wasn't making sense. Jaune wanted nothing more than to grab her and force her to look at him, but he knew he would be overstepping his bounds. Instead he chose to be direct with his own tone. "Weiss," he said forcefully. "Just say what you need to say."

Her jaw clenched. Glancing down, Jaune saw how her fists had squeezed into tight balls. Whatever she was trying to say was clearly distressing her. He didn't want to push her, but at the same time he didn't want to leave her hanging here in agony.

"Weiss?"

"I want you to kiss me!"

His eyes widened. His jaw dropped. Had he just head her right? "W-what?"

Her face turned as red as Ruby's cloak. "I said kiss me! Don't make me say it again!"

All kinds of thoughts were whirling through the boy's mind right now. "But I... I don't understand!"

"You don't need to understand. Isn't this what you've always wanted? Well here I am! So just do it already! Hurry up!"

She was frantic. It didn't take a genius to know that something was wrong. Something was very wrong. The first possibility which came to mind was an all too familiar one. "Weiss... are you sure you're not Bleiss right now?" Perhaps the girl had acquired a white wig and blue contact lenses.

An angry snarl formed on her lips in response to his words. "I am not Bleiss! She's just a stupid, inconvenient part of me! Don't you ever forget that!"

Jaune took a step back, overwhelmed by the girl's anger. "I'm sorry," he said hurriedly. "It's just... I have to be sure, you know? It's not every day that Weiss Schnee wants to kiss me..."

In an instant the rage vanished from Weiss' features. A look of guilt or remorse had appeared in its stead. "I know..." she agreed softly. "You're being cautious. I appreciate that..."

It was like a switch had been flipped in the girl. One moment she was an angry ball of energy. The next she was calm and hesitant. Her emotions were a jumbled mess. They manifested into her actions. Into her words. Her desires.

"Talk to me, Weiss. What's going on?"

Her eyes were glued to the floor. The words which came from her lips were soft as a whisper. "I'm scared, Jaune... I'm desperate."

Jaune wanted to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. His arm moved, but an instant later he stopped himself. The last thing he wanted to do right now was seemingly take advantage of Weiss in a time of desperation and weakness.

"I need to..." she started, her voice and her body quivering as she paused. "I need to get it out of my system. I need to appease Bleiss. Maybe if I... I mean, if we... if the two of us do something, then maybe the- the urges, maybe they, she..."

The incoherent babbling was back, but worse now. She could barely put together a sentence anymore. Yet, he knew what she was trying to convey. At least he thought he did. Putting together a few key words with her flat out telling him she wanted to be kissed, he understood what she wanted. And the theory behind it.

But what if it was wrong?

Jaune unconsciously took another step backward, only for his back to meet the vending machine. Trapped between it and a dangerously frantic girl, he had no way out of this but with his words. "Weiss, think about this rationally. What if it doesn't work? What if it only makes things worse? What if Bleiss comes out right here and now because you..." He couldn't even finish his thought about the idea of kissing Weiss. Normally it would have been a dream come true. But not under these circumstances.

Finally Weiss looked up to meet his gaze. "If it does... then at least it's on my terms."

There was a hardness in her eyes. A strength and resolve which had not been there only seconds before. "Weiss?"

"If doing this causes Bleiss to come out, then at least I'm the one who caused it. And that counts for something," she added bitterly. A frown formed on her lips. Fear and anxiety had been replaced with anger. With bitterness. With hate. "I've never been in control of my own life, Jaune. You've been able to make mistakes in your past. You had the choice to come to Beacon Academy. I," she said as she pointed up to the left side of her face. To the scar which adorned her otherwise flawless features. "Had to fight to come here. I had to pay a price. It wasn't the first time, and it will not be the last."

Normally Jaune would have thought that hearing such genuine and heartfelt words from the girl would be endearing. He would have been thrilled that she was sharing such real and personal information with him. However, he never could have expected that this beautiful young woman who he had once called Snow Angel would have such a painful past. One which she had hidden from him, and who knows who else.

"My fight for control is the very reason of Bleiss' existence," she continued. "And in a way it's liberating that I was able to make a choice, no matter how severe the consequences have been. I chose to take the action which led to the emergence of Bleiss. And I am now paying for it. However... I will not allow this decision to all be for naught. I will not be brought back to Atlas to be caged and studied for my own well-being. I will not be torn away from my friends and team. I will not let a single mistake ruin my life forever."

Caged and studied? Surely she was exaggerated. Still... she seemed adamant on not being brought back to Atlas. Was her life at home truly that bad? "Okay, I get that. But... still." Jaune ran a hand through his hair. He had the urge to back up once more, but he was trapped. "You're sister's here. What if Bleiss does come out right here and now?"

Weiss took a long breath and sighed. The seriousness remained on her face as she stared intently at him. "Then I trust you," she said earnestly.

Jaune's heart skipped a beat. Everything Weiss had said and done so far in this conversation had been all he had ever wanted. She had entrusted him with some of her deepest and darkest secrets. She had expressed how much she trusted him. She wanted to kiss him. Why couldn't any of it be real? Why couldn't Weiss want all of this for real, rather than because of Bleiss?

"To do what exactly? Take you away and what? Hide from your sister?"

"Yes." The single word carried more weight than he had ever expected it to. "Right now I am in control. And that means more to me than you could ever imagine. If the worst comes to pass, I trust that you will grab Bleiss by the hand and escape Beacon as quickly as you can. You will not allow my sister to see her. You will not allow her to know where you and Bleiss have gone. You will remain in hiding until it is safe to return. And... you will not allow her to compromise my body while the two of you are alone together." Weiss took hold of his hand with both of hers. "I trust you, Jaune. I trust you because you have earned it. All the way back to the night of the dance, up until the date last night, you have done nothing but respect me and keep my best interests in mind."

Her hands were so tiny. So soft. So delicate. It took both of hers to envelop only one of his. She was holding his hand. Even if not in any sort of romantic context, this was yet another act which Jaune had always wanted from the girl he harbored feelings for.

"So kiss me, Jaune," she said softly. The intensity replaced with embarrassment once more. "It will either help to keep Bleiss at bay, or it will force her out into the open right here and now. Either way, it is a choice _I_ am making. It is control which _I_ am expressing right now. I need control of my life once more, Jaune. If this is the only way to do it, then it's a small price to pay."

He was a tool. A way for Weiss to try and regain control of her life. He didn't know what to think about the sentiment.

Should he be offended? Should he reject the idea of being used as a device in order to try to control Bleiss? Should he tell her that he is not some tool for her to use for her own benefit, and that he has feelings too?

Or should he cast aside those feelings for the sake of his friend? Should he willingly sacrifice his emotions, and his lips, for the happiness of the girl he cared for? Even if she did not care about him in the same way? Should he simply accept that Weiss will never feel the same way he does about her, and that right here and now will be the closest he will ever come to kissing her?

He was shaken from his thoughts when he felt a hand on his chest. The girl who was a foot shorter than him was using his body to help balance on the tips of her toes as she leaned up. As she brought her lips up toward his own.

"Jaune..." she whispered. "Please..."

Pale blue eyes on the verge of tears shattered what resolve he might have had. He couldn't bear to see such sadness in the eyes of a friend. Of the girl who he had feelings for. Even if he wanted nothing more than to bury those feelings, knowing that they would never be returned to him.

Jaune closed his eyes and prepared to receive the most bittersweet kiss imaginable.

It never came.

"Weiss!" the stern, feminine voice all but shouted.

In an instant the hand which had been pressed against his chest left. Jaune opened his eyes to see that Weiss had turned around. Standing in front of both of them was an older and taller woman whose hair and dress resembled that of Weiss herself. He quickly put two and two together. This was her sister, Winter.

And they were busted.

"W-winter!" the younger Schnee exclaimed. "This... isn't what it looks like?"

* * *

Her entire body was shivering as she sat on her bed. Her eyes were glued onto hands which were folded neatly atop her legs. Legs which shook in fear.

Winter was pacing back and forth in the now vacated room. Ruby, Yang and Blake had been ushered out of their dorm room without protest. Nothing and nobody could stop a Schnee on the warpath. And right now, Winter looked as though she could cut down an entire army singlehandedly.

She was furious. She had to be. The older girl had not said a word for the past five minutes as she stalked the room. What scathing insults might she be formulating in her mind? What horrible punishments might she be concocting? Truly this was torturous. The fear of the unknown. The waiting. It in itself was a severe and horrible form of punishment. Weiss wished that her sister would simply get it over with. That she would yell and scream and threaten her. Anything was better than waiting for the executioner's axe to come down on her neck.

There had been several times which Weiss had wanted to speak up, but each time her courage failed her at the last moment. She could not be the first to speak here. She dared not say a word until Winter was ready to talk about what she had seen. About what she had heard. Seeing her sweet, innocent little sister throwing herself at a boy must have earth shattering for the Atlesian Specialist. It was like the last vestiges of their childhoods had been destroyed in that one moment.

For the sister who had been more like a mother to her, that must have been a devastating realization. Her precious baby sister was all grown up now. And she was nothing more than a sexual deviant! Even if that was the furthest thing from the truth, that must have been the perception which Winter now had of her.

Weiss wanted to die here and now. It was funny how all thoughts of Bleiss had been driven from her mind once Winter had caught her and Jaune about to kiss. The conscious struggle to suppress her summoning glyphs back when she had been speaking with Jaune was gone. It was as if all of her, or rather Bleiss' subconscious urges had been sniffed out and replaced with the fear of her sister's wrath. Perhaps it was all for the best. If it was, it certainly did not feel like it in this moment.

"Weiss."

The girl's head snapped up to see that Winter had ceased her pacing. The young woman stood before her, hands clasped behind her back. Her expression was neutral. Unreadable.

"Y-yes?"

A soft breath escaped Winter's lips. "I'm not angry."

Icy-blue eyes widened with surprise. A surge of relief flowed through her chest. "You're not?"

"No."

Weiss' lips curled up in a small smile. This was wonderful. She didn't know why, and she didn't care, but Winter wasn't upset. She wouldn't be sent back to Atlas. She wouldn't be punished. Maybe, for whatever reason, Winter would simply forget what she had seen and move on. Truly she was the greatest big sister ever. Yang could learn a thing or do from this woman.

"All of your life you have been controlled," Winter continued. "Repressed. Unhappy. I know this because I was in the exact same position before I enlisted with the Atlesian military. Rebellion takes a different shape for each person. Each of our struggles are unique, and we act out in our own ways. Clearly, this is yours."

All traces of the smile quickly dropped from Weiss' face. "What?"

"You're finally free. Free from the bonds of Atlesian society. Free from expectation. Free from father. It's only natural that you would want to explore the aspects of life which had been denied to you all this time. You had been set up with suitors before, and none of them had ever been your choice. None of them were boys you felt anything genuine for. But now you have that freedom to choose. To experiment. To find happiness on your own terms." Winter gave a knowing look at she gazed her sister in the eyes. "And it appears that you have."

Weiss' own eyes widened. Wait... did she think? No. No, this was not happening right now.

Her head shook wildly. "Winter, it's not what you think."

"Weiss, I understand that this is your first relationship," the elder Schnee said as she resumed her pacing. "Your first love. And at your age, your hormones are out of control. You're feeling new and strange urges, and they are all perfectly healthy and natural to have." She stopped before leveling a finger in Weiss' direction. "But you do not need to lie to me if you feel the need to spend time with your boyfriend. If anything, I would very much like to meet the boy who has managed to win over my dear sister's heart."

Weiss was mortified. Oh yes, Winter clearly had the wrong idea. She shook her head once more. "No, no! It's not like that at all! Please believe me!"

A casual flick of her wrist dismissed all protests. "There's no need to be embarrassed," Winter smiled. "This is something just between sisters. And my baby sister is growing up into a fine young woman. A woman with needs. If Mr. Arc is the man you've chosen for a relationship, then I trust your judgment."

Weiss buried her face in her hands. How was this even happening? How had things gone from one horrible situation to another entirely different one? Life wasn't fair. It just wasn't. Why couldn't she just be normal? Why couldn't life be normal?

"That is, after I have gone through a very thorough vetting process with the boy," Winter continued. "He and I will be having a very... personal conversation together in the near future. And rest assured, I will spare no expense and detail in order to discover everything about this Arc boy. The full resources of the Atlesian military are at my disposal. I will utilize everything in my power to ensure that my sister is happy."

The words were both heartwarming and frightening at the same time. She had no doubt that Winter would be very thorough with Jaune. She would uncover his deepest and darkest secrets. There would probably be interrogation and torture involved.

All for a boy who she was not in a real relationship with.

"Winter I must insist that we're not like that!" she said desperately.

"Oh? If he is not your boyfriend, then what other explanation do you have to sneak off in order to spend private time with him like you were? In order to engage in physical activity together?"

Weiss wanted to blanch at those words. However... Winter did have a point. What other explanation could she give? It was either this, or tell her about Bleiss. There was no middle ground.

With a sigh of resignation, Weiss closed her eyes and admitted defeat. "You're right. He's... he's my boyfriend."

The admission stung. Not so much because of who she was admitting was her boyfriend. The dance and Jaune's actions in this Bleiss debacle has proven to her that he was a genuine and standup guy. No, it was the idea that Weiss was so unable to control her urges that she snuck away from her sister in order to see her boyfriend. To lay her hands upon him and kiss him. Like she was some sort of uncontrollable pervert.

Like she was Bleiss.

She was suddenly shaken from her thoughts when Winter leaned down and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Fear not, Weiss. I'm not going to harm him," she said reassuringly. Perhaps Winter had misinterpreted the look of fear which must have been on her sister's face. "Only put the fear of the Schnee name into him should he ever mistreat you in any way."

Weiss didn't know what exactly those ominous words entailed, but she knew they could not be good for Jaune. An innocent boy. A boy whose only crime had been trying to help her out in her time of need.

Gods, did she feel guilty. Jaune had no idea the wrath which was about to be unleashed upon him thanks to her actions.

"Winter, I'm begging you. Please stop."

The Specialist gave another dismissive wave. "Nonsense. I know this kind of talk is uncomfortable, but it is important that you are properly informed, and thus safe. I'm aware that neither mother nor father have ever likely given you this talk. Therefore it falls to me in order to teach you a necessary and fundamental part of life."

Weiss' already pale skin paled even more. No... she didn't mean...

"I cannot and will not prevent you from being in a relationship. However, I only ask that you be careful and responsible in anything you and your partner do together. Knowledge is power, and the knowledge I am about to impart on you has the potential to help you avoid potentially life-altering events. Tell me, Weiss. How familiar are you with reproductive biology?"

For the first time in her life, Weiss wanted to escape the clutches of her dear older sister.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** It's been a while, but better late than never. August was a very busy month for me. Then I needed some downtime to rest and recharge. Hopefully I'm all better now.

As always thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing. Your continued support is truly inspiring. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and will enjoy what is yet to come.


	9. Chapter 9

Jaune covered his mouth, attempting to stifle a yawn as he walked down the hall of Beacon Academy. Mondays were the absolute worst. It meant that he had five days to suffer through before he would once more experience the sweet nothingness of the weekend. Five days of torturous classes. The boredom of Professor Port's lessons. The confusion of Doctor Oobleck. The... pain of Professor Goodwitch. The list went on and on.

Still, at least he wasn't in it alone. To his right, his partner walked shoulder to shoulder with him, as if ready to take on the entire world. To his left, the animated form of Nora bounced around excitedly as she chatted with Ren about something. Jaune smiled, knowing how good life was now. There had been some trial and tribulations throughout the first few months at Beacon, but things were finally seeming to settle down. Things were finally seeming to work out in his favor. He was learning his craft, and quickly. If he kept improving, his team might just stand a chance at winning the whole Vytal Tournament.

Then again, Pyrrha would probably still win it single-handedly regardless of his skill level.

Once more he considered how lucky he was to have such an amazing partner. Someone so kind and talented. She had chosen him of all people, simply because he didn't know who she was.

"Jaune."

A chill ran down his spine. She wasn't the only one who had chosen him.

He turned around to thankfully see the familiar face of Weiss coming up behind him. Flanked by her own teammates, her eyes were locked on his own as she approached.

"Hey, Weiss," he greeted as he turned. A frown slipped on his face soon after. Weiss didn't normally go out of her way to speak to him. "I something wrong?"

Despite things going so well in his life, there was still one difficulty. The Goliath in the room named Bleiss.

The girl stopped in front of him, tilting her head up slightly to look him in the eye. Rather than answering the question directly, Weiss pressed on with her own agenda. "I need to speak with you."

The other members of their respective teams had stopped, forming a loose circle around the duo. Weiss huffed, shaking her head in annoyance as she looked around. "Alone, if possible."

Most of the teens took the hint, and awkwardly began to shuffle forward in order to get to class on time. Yang was not among them.

"What's this?" she asked. "A secret rendezvous with your boyfriend?"

Boyfriend? Yang had always been bold. She had always been a joker. But even that was too far for the blonde girl.

Weiss whirled around, leveling a finger at her teammate. "Not another word out of you," she snapped.

Yang blinked, seemingly taken aback by the defensive nature of Weiss' outburst. She raised her hands up in front of her chest defensively. "Whoa, I'm just kidding, Weiss. That's what friends do, remember?"

The heiress was still not amused. "Well I'm _not_ joking," she replied. Weiss turned back to Jaune, annoyance still in her eyes, but thankfully not directed at him. "As I was saying. May I have a moment of your time?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Any time."

She nodded in turn, directing him over a corner in the hallway where they'd at least have the illusion of privacy. Or, at the very least, a place where they would give the impression that they were not to be disturbed as they spoke.

Jaune's back was to the wall, with Weiss in front of him all but trapping his body. Despite her diminutive size, her presence was more intimidating than an Ursa's.

"So what's this about?" he asked.

The girl before him took a deep breath, shutting her eyes briefly before looking back up at him. "Look, Jaune. There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it. You and I are dating now."

His jaw dropped. Had he missed something? "W-what?" he stuttered.

"Not for real," she clarified. "It's... complicated."

Not for real? What did that even mean? "Feel like explaining then?"

She glanced away from him. "Yesterday... when Winter found us..."

It felt like it was taking a lot for the girl to even bring up what had taken place the day prior. He couldn't exactly blame her. Being caught red-handed like that had to have been humiliating. Especially by an older sister. Jaune couldn't imagine how embarrassed he would have been had one of his own sisters found him in such a compromising position. And his sisters were not nearly as strict as Winter Schnee.

"I had two choices to explain my behavior to my sister," Weiss continued. "Confess the truth about Bleiss, or say that we are... dating. Therefore, to Winter and Winter alone, we are a couple."

Jaune blinked. He didn't know what to say. What to think. What to feel.

Truthfully, it was all that he had ever wanted. Ever since his first days here at Beacon, he had held a candle for Weiss. He had done all he could to get her to notice him. And he had, just never in a good way. He had tried every trick his father ever taught him in order to win her favor. However in the end, all it had ever done was force her further away from him.

It was a truly cruel twist that she was closer to him now than ever before in her time of need. Finally, a time where he could play the role of the heroic knight in order to save the damsel in distress. The damsel of his dreams. The girl who he had once pined for with all his heart.

Once.

Not anymore. Those days had passed. He knew how she felt about him. Or rather, how she didn't feel about him. There was no point in hurting himself any further when he knew this. When he knew there was someone else she harbored feelings for.

Now when he was finally over her, she wanted him to lie to his heart. She wanted him to play the role of her boyfriend. Her fake boyfriend. She wanted to give him everything he had ever wanted, only to rip it away when it was in arm's reach.

"It will only be for Winter's benefit. Once she leaves, we will be able to drop the facade. I haven't told anyone else, because hopefully it won't come up in front of Ruby or Yang for the rest of the day. We will only need to carry on the act in my sister's presence. Do you understand?"

It was Jaune's turn to look away. How could he stare into the beautiful eyes of this girl and say what he was about to say? "That's not fair."

For long seconds Weiss said nothing. Finally he looked to gauge her reaction, and found that she too was struggling for words. "What do you mean?"

Jaune sighed. He wasn't one for making big displays of his private feelings, but he felt this needed to be said. It had been building up for far too long. First the kiss, and now dating? It was too much for the boy.

"You know how I feel about you. It's not fair for you to dangle this in front of me. To tease me like this. I know you're going through a bad time, but have you ever even considered how I feel about all this?"

The way Weiss' lips parted, but said nothing, spoke volumes of how much thought she had given him. Her gaze cast downward, and shame fell on her face.

It hurt Jaune to see that guilty expression on her face. It hurt to know he had been the one to cause it. However, he had feelings too. He had a right to happiness as well. It wasn't him who had made her consume that dust elixir. It wasn't his fault that her alter ego was obsessed with him.

"It's not fair," she agreed. Her words were soft. Remorseful. Barely a whisper as she went on. "I just don't know what else to do. What do you want? Money? I have plenty of that if you require compensation."

No. No amount of lien in the world would give him what he truly wanted. Wealth couldn't change the past and make her fall for him the day she had literally fallen from the sky in his arms.

A small and vindictive part of him wanted to tell her to go ask Neptune what to do. After all, he was the boy who she had fallen for. But Jaune knew such words would be petty. Hurtful for the sake of being hurtful. It would not do either of them any good. He wasn't that kind of person.

The far larger and emphatic part of him hurt to see her hurting. Romantic feelings or not, he still cared for Weiss. She was still his friend. Even if there were times it didn't seem like it.

Was he merely a glutton for punishment? How much longer would he put up with this? Did he even have a choice?

"Weiss," a third voice said suddenly.

Or would his choices always be made for him?

He had been so caught up with his feelings about Weiss, that he hadn't even seen the older Schnee sibling walking down the hall. Weiss hadn't been in a position to see either.

In an instant the heiress spun around in order to greet her sister. "Good morning, Winter" she said politely. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did. The quarters provided by this academy were more than sufficient. As a result I trust you are getting a good night's sleep every night as well."

Weiss nodded. "Of course. The beds may not be as luxurious as my own back home, but it is more than enough. A true huntress should never grow soft and complacent by relying on such comforts."

"Indeed," Winter agreed. "Though I'm sure with that death trap hanging above your head every night, you are more than used to sleeping in the presence of danger."

Jaune saw how Weiss shuffled uncomfortably at the comment. Was Winter talking about her and Ruby's bunk bed? If one could call that makeshift furniture a real bunk bed.

Before Weiss could respond, however, Winter waved away her previous statement. "Enough about that, however. I am not here to discuss your sleeping arrangements."

"Oh? Then to what pleasure do I owe your presence this morning?"

Weiss' words sounded forced. Fake. Terrified. A look down at her body showed she was trembling. At least, her hand was.

He couldn't stand seeing her like this. And he wouldn't, if he could help it. If Weiss needed him to play the role of her boyfriend, then he would do so. If only for Winter's sake.

His hand reached out and clasped hers in it.

He felt her jump at the contact. He heard the small gasp escape her mouth as she turned to look up at him. He saw the shocked expression in her pale blue eyes as she stared into his own.

Most of all, he felt how she squeezed his hand in return.

"That," Winter said, almost amusedly. He and Weiss both turned back to see the ghost of a smirk playing on the older girl's lips. "I wanted to see just what kind of partner my dear sister had chosen for herself, and I must admit, I'm not disappointed so far."

Those were perhaps the last words Jaune had been expecting to hear. "You're not?" he asked.

Winter shook her head. "Not at all. You are intuitive, Mister Arc. You sensed that Weiss was uncomfortable with our current situation. You knew she was afraid of being caught off-guard again, so you sought to comfort her. Even by something as simple as holding her hand."

He had. He absolutely had. Even if his intention had only been to put their false relationship on display, Jaune couldn't deny that he had in fact done everything Winter complimented him for. If she wanted to believe those were his only intentions, then he would gladly let her.

"Furthermore, I appreciate the bravery of a public display of affection in front of a close family member," she continued. "To consider her happiness in the face of overwhelming, and admittedly intimidating odds, is commendable." Winter's smile deepened as she glanced away briefly. "I do wonder how father would react to a similar display in his presence."

The fact of the matter was that Jaune was not afraid of Winter. After all, he and Weiss weren't in a real relationship. He did not seek the elder sister's approval. This would all be over in a matter of days, if not hours. His bravery wasn't genuine. However, he would accept her praise nonetheless. He was after all playing the role of the good boyfriend.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Jaune agreed. "I really do care about Weiss."

That statement was in fact based entirely in truth. Just not the same truth that Winter saw.

"Y-yes," Weiss agreed, speaking for the first time since Winter had come to her conclusions. "He does. He truly does..." Her hand squeezed down on his fingers, as if easing her grip on them would result in their entire plan being ruined. "However, we really must be getting to class. Professor Goodwitch is quite a stickler for punctuality."

A way out. Weiss was as brilliant as ever. There would be time to regroup and plan out their next course of action.

"Of course," Winter smiled. "I would hate to be the cause of your perfect attendance record being ruined."

Weiss slightly dipped her head. "Thank you. However, we would be more than happy to continue this conversation once our classes have finished for the day. Right, Jaune?"

Happy. That was the wrong word to use. Still, he smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Definitely."

What a good and loving boyfriend he was.

"Wonderful. Please, don't let me keep you any longer."

"Of course." Weiss' hand was still practically glued to Jaune's, and she tugged it so that he would follow. "Come on, Jaune. Let's hurry to class."

He didn't need to be told twice. The sooner he could get out of this predicament, the better.

"And Mister Arc."

Jaune froze and turned back once more to look at Winter. The faint hint of a smile still graced her lips. "I look forward to speaking with you alone as well. There is much for us to discuss."

He nodded wordlessly. Winter couldn't have been more ominous if she had tried.

* * *

A hand reached out against a nearby locker in order to brace herself. In order to keep herself from falling over. The sudden burst of consciousness had been jarring. Disorienting. Like she had just awoken standing on two feet.

Bleiss looked around to see a familiar locker room. How she had gotten there, she could not say. Looking down, she saw herself stripped bare to her underwear. Her modest bust was confined by a white bra which was completely unlike the naughty black lace she had worn for her date with Jaune.

Red eyes widened. Her date. The last thing she could remember was being comfortably nuzzled next to him in a movie theater.

Looking around again, her heart felt as if it was being squeezed in a vice. The blonde boy of her dreams was nowhere in sight. She was obviously back at Beacon. She must have been in class. She had slept all of Saturday night. All of Sunday. Even the beginning of Monday. If today even was Monday. At the very least, thirty six hours had gone by since she had last been in control.

She swallowed hard.

Now here she was, getting changed out of her school uniform for something. In a perfect world she would have been undressing for a night of bliss with Jaune, but she knew that could only be a fantasy. No, she was here for a reason. Or rather, _Weiss_ was here for a reason.

That reason soon made itself apparent.

"Weiss, are you o-" the familiar voice began, only to stop mid-sentence. "Bleiss..."

Shoving herself away from the locker, Bleiss turned to the girl in question. Standing there clad in leather and bronze, Pyrrha Nikos watched with a look of concern in her emerald eyes. Spear and shield in hand, it looked as though she was ready to go to war.

Yes, it made sense now. They must have been getting changed for Miss Goodwitch's class. They must have been two of the participants for today's matches. Weiss had probably been giddy with excitement at the prospect of getting to face _the_ Pyrrha Nikos in order to test her own abilities. In order to improve herself.

Bleiss on the other hand found herself equally excited at the opportunity. Though, for entirely different purposes.

"Hey there, _Pyr_ ," she replied, putting a sneering emphasis on the girl's nickname. "How've you been lately?"

If the words had any effect on the four time champion, she did not show it. "I've been fine. And you?"

How polite of her. Pyrrha always had been disgustingly polite to the point of caution. Like she didn't want to make any kind of false step in order to drive those who were close to her away. How utterly pathetic.

"I'm fucking phenomenal," she smiled back. "How could I not be after I got to go on a date with Jaune? It was... incredible. Truly the only way I can describe it. Did you know he's a huge fan of Mistrali cuisine?"

"No," Pyrrha admitted. "I didn't." The subtle movement of her jaw before she replied spoke volumes. Bleiss loved it. This gargantuan bitch may have been Jaune's partner, but she didn't know him. Not like Bleiss did.

"Yeah, my boy's got quite an appetite," she pressed on. She wanted to really twist the knife in the redhead's gut. "Probably had to recharge his batteries after all that intense training you've been putting him through. Gotta say, thank you so much for keeping him in shape for me. You're a real friend, Pyrrha."

The redhead continued to stand there unresponsive. Indifferent to the passive-aggressive barbs being thrown her way. How annoying. "Our training isn't for your benefit," she clarified. "Jaune seeks to improve himself for his own reasons, and to help others."

"Of course," Bleiss agreed. "Jaune wants to be a huntsman for his family, right? Maybe then he'll be able to stop his sisters from braiding his hair and putting makeup on him." The quizzical look Pyrrha gave told her that this too was new information to her. She smelled blood in the water. "Oh, he didn't tell you about his sisters... whoops, sorry. Spoiler alert."

"I can't recall all the details," Pyrrha replied. "We talk so much every night, it's hard to remember what he's told me and when."

 _Oh that bitch..._ she thought bitterly. Still, now things were getting interesting. Pyrrha had a little bit of fire growing in her belly. That calm, nice girl act of hers was getting boring. Someone didn't become a four time fighting champion by being little miss docile doormat. No, inside Pyrrha was the heart of a warrior. A killer instinct that drove her to conquer all in her path. It just needed a little push in the right direction.

"Are you going to get dressed?" she continued, nodding toward her barely-covered body. "We do have a match to get to."

"So true," Bleiss agreed before reaching into her locker to find a familiar white skirt. She slipped it on, eager to get out there and show the world what she was made of.

To show Jaune all of her moves and skills.

The idea of beating Pyrrha to a bloody pulp in front of the whole school, and especially Jaune, sent chills down her spine. Maybe then he would agree to let her be his private instructor. She would teach him all about the art of combat, and in time, the art of love. That was all she needed. Time. Unfortunately for her, time was a commodity she did not have.

Their date had made that fact abundantly clear.

Anger and hate filled every fiber of her being just thinking about that wasted opportunity. How she was robbed of her perfect night with Jaune. Getting to take those feelings out on this bitch would be nothing short of cathartic. Standing over Pyrrha's battered body with a heeled boot on her chest would be incredible. Looking up to the crowd and seeing them cheer wildly as she conquered the Invincible Girl would be nothing short of glorious. She would dedicate her victory to Jaune. She would grab and kiss him as passion and adrenaline coursed through her veins.

"If I might ask," Pyrrha started, breaking the silence which had filled the room while Bleiss was getting changed. That raven-haired girl looked up to see a pair of intense eyes focused on her. "What exactly do you find so appealing about Jaune?"

Buttoning up her bolero, Bleiss lightly flipped her hair back around her shoulder. "What's wrong, Pyrrha? You can't see what I see? No point in explaining it if you can't."

The other girl frowned. "No, I know what I see in him. I'm just wondering about you, since Weiss did not share any kinds of feelings that you have."

It had all but been an admission. She knew Pyrrha had feelings for the boy. Everyone in Beacon _but_ Jaune seemed to know. Still, this was the first time she had come out and admitted it. At least to her.

And she found it infuriating.

"You're such a piece of shit, you know that, Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha's lips parted slightly, and she blinked a few times before finally replying. "I'm sorry?"

"You're toying with him," Bleiss explained. "You see, I let Jaune know exactly what he means to me. I tell him exactly what I want to do with him. Not you, though," she sneered. "No, you just smile and cheer him on while you train. Worming your way into his life like a parasite. Playing the role of the best friend. Manipulating him. It's pathetic, and so are you."

Her face was hot with anger. She hoped her red eyes were burning with the intensity she felt in her heart right now.

Pyrrha on the other hand still appeared taken aback by the outburst. She was at a loss for words, unable or unwilling to respond to the verbal onslaught. That was fine. Bleiss still had more than enough words for the both of them.

"There you are, training with him every night, making him depend on you. Imposing yourself in his life until there's no way he can possibly imagine it without you. Is that your plan, Pyrrha? Making him so dependent on you that the idea of living without you is unthinkable? You really are a manipulative little shit, you know that? Trying to make him fall for you without letting him know how you feel." Bleiss smiled, letting her rage fall away to be replaced by bitter laughter. "You've got good taste, I'll give you that. But fight me straight. Grow some balls and tell him how you feel, and we'll see who he goes for. Or, don't. Keep sparring with him. Keep beating him up. 'Cause when he comes back to me all worn and tired, I'll be there to make him feel better. I'll beat him in ways you can only dream of."

To her shock and displeasure, Pyrrha still managed to keep herself under control. At least physically. The way she was clenching her teeth showed that she was angry. And yet, she still refused to do anything about it. She was as passive here as she was making a move on Jaune.

"The only fighting I intend to do is out there," Pyrrha told her sternly as she began making her way to the exit. "We have a match."

Bleiss grinned. The bitch was indeed fired up now. Her body may have been invincible in a fight, but her heart was vulnerable. And that would only serve as an advantage in the upcoming bout.

Pyrrha wasn't the only one who could manipulate the feelings of others.

"Or... maybe he does know how you feel," she gasped. The words caused Pyrrha to stop in her tracks, but she did not turn to face her. "Maybe he just doesn't feel the same way. He's just too nice of a guy to shoot you down after all you've done for him. He doesn't want to hurt his partner's feelings, so he's playing dumb. Pretending not to notice. How utterly tragic for you, after all that hard work you've put in. So... how does it feel to know you've been rejected, Invincible Girl?"

This time Pyrrha said nothing. Bleiss could not gauge her reaction from looking at her back. The redhead left without saying a word.

Attaching Myrtenaster to her side, Bleiss moved to follow her. This feud would indeed be settled on the battlefield. "Break a leg out there, Pyrrha," she muttered to herself.

She wasn't wishing the girl luck, either.

* * *

It was difficult for Jaune to focus. Thank the gods it wasn't him who was fighting today.

Winter's words had left quite an impression on him. For more reasons than just wanting to speak to him alone later today. That in itself was nerve-wracking enough. In addition to that, the fact that she believed that he and Weiss were in a genuine relationship was frightening. He was deceiving a legitimate huntress. An Atlesian Specialist. If she were to ever find out...

He shook his head in order to clear his thoughts. It was okay. She wouldn't find out. Soon enough she would be gone, and this entire ordeal would be over. Then he and Weiss wouldn't have to pretend anymore. Then they would be able to go back to normal.

Normal. What even was normal anymore? He couldn't say.

As if to emphasize the thought, Jaune's heart froze when he saw who had emerged from the doors. Weiss and Pyrrha had gone to get changed for their sparring match.

Only one had returned.

Clad in Weiss' white-blue skirt and bolero was none other than Bleiss. This day could not get any worse.

Jaune was on his feet in an instant as he rushed down the steps in order to do... something. He had no idea what he hoped to accomplish, but he had to do something. Anything. Weiss was counting on him.

 _I trust you._

Her words echoed in his mind. She trusted him to keep her secret. To keep her safe. No matter how unfair it was to both of them, the fact that she did indeed place so much trust in him weighed heavily on his shoulders. He could not let her down.

He had to stop this match before it even began. He had to take Bleiss' place.

As he reached the entrance to the arena, the stern voice of Miss Goodwitch filled the room. "Mister Arc! What are you doing?"

Despite his urgency, the sound of her voice cut through the air and stopped him in his tracks. He turned to the woman who had no idea what was going on. "Change of plans," he said, coming up with an excuse on the fly. "I'm going to be fighting Pyrrha today."

"You're... what?" the girl in question asked hesitantly.

"You are not," Glynda replied. "The match is set. Pyrrha Nikos will be facing Weiss Schnee, who I see decided to waste precious time in putting on a wig and contact lenses once more."

Bleiss snorted softly. "Bitch," she muttered.

"Excuse me?" the woman asked coldly.

"I said sorry Miss Goodwitch."

It was apparent by the way their teacher's shoulders were still tense that she did not believe Bleiss' words. Not entirely. On one hand she would never fully believe that Weiss Schnee could and would utter such a thing. On the other, she had no idea that Bleiss was an entirely separate entity.

Rather than pressing the issue, it seemed as if Glynda had decided to trust in the reality she knew. "Your scrolls are synced to the Aura meters," she stated evenly. "You may begin when ready."

No. Unacceptable. Jaune once more interjected before they could begin. "You have to listen to me. Pyrrha... Pyrrha's my partner, so I need to be the one who faces her today. B-Weiss, please listen to me."

"Mister Arc, step away from the guard rail!"

He didn't. He couldn't. Glynda would have to forcibly remove him with her Semblance as far as he was concerned. But before that, he had to make Bleiss listen to him. She didn't realize what kind of danger she was in.

The dark-haired girl sauntered over to where he stood, a coy smile on her face as she regarded him. "Jaune," she said smoothly. "Don't worry about me. I think it's adorable that you're concerned about me, but I want this."

Concern was right, just not the kind she was thinking. He wasn't afraid of her going up against Pyrrha. He was afraid of her getting found out by Winter.

As she neared, Jaune lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. "Bleiss. Winter is here."

The words made her pause momentarily, but soon enough she recovered. "Is that so?"

"Yes. You understand why we have to go, right? Why you have to hide?"

The girl shrugged. "Yeah, I get it. But at the same time I don't care."

He was struggling to comprehend her words. He didn't understand why she didn't care about such a dire threat to her existence. "But..."

Bleiss smiled softly. "I'm not going with you, so don't bother trying. I'm gonna put this bitch in her place, and I want you to watch. Okay?"

The fact that she had just called his friend and partner a bitch was not lost on Jaune, but right now there were more pressing issues than reprimanding her.

As she turned to move back to the center of the arena, his hand lashed out to grab hold of her wrist. "Bleiss..."

She turned back, but before she could even speak Jaune felt his arm being pulled back against his will. A glance to his left showed the source of the movement.

Glynda stood with her riding crop out, her Semblance forcibly prying his arm away from Bleiss and pushing him away from the rail. "Detention, Mister Arc," she stated through gritted teeth. "After today's classes."

Detention. Yeah, as if that was anything to care about at a time like this. Especially because he had a much more important meeting with Winter already scheduled. Looks like he would be in for a week of detention after blowing off today's.

"Don't worry, babe!" Bleiss called out as she look back over her shoulder at him. She planted a kiss on her hands before blowing it in his direction. "This one's for you!"

A few soft murmurs filled his ears as the students around reacted to those words. For all intents and purposes, Weiss Schnee had just kissed Jaune Arc and called him babe. The Ice Queen of all people. After their history together.

Oh yes. People were going to talk now that this obsession of hers had been made public. Now that it wasn't confined just to their close circle of friends.

With his plans in tatters and Bleiss refusing to cooperate, all he could do was sit and watch what came next. He no longer even needed Glynda's Semblance to force him in his seat.

Bleiss stood on her side of the arena, her rapier leveled at the girl opposite her. "So, you ready to go?"

Pyrrha stood slightly crouched in a combat stance. Her shield was up and covering her torso, while she held her spear in an overhand grip at head level. She said nothing in response. Jaune knew her actions would speak louder than words.

If his partner's serious expression was anything to go by, those actions were going to leave Bleiss in a world of hurt. And Weiss was about to be caught in the crossfire.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Well, this should be fun. Bleiss and Pyrrha going all out in a battle which is about much more than class ranking. Only Jaune has no idea what they're truly fighting over.

As always, my thanks go out to everyone for reading and reviewing.


End file.
